On May 17, the 26th round of the Suzhou Super Women's Football League was in full swing, Shen Mengyu appeared on the field as a debutant and helped Celtic Women's Football Team win 5-0 at home with two wonderful assists. Facing the interview of China New Sports, she shared her experience of staying abroad and future planning.
--At the championship celebration, you had written, "Thank you for 132 days of struggle and hard work away from home." Does that hide a lot of heartbreaking stories behind it?
Being far away from my hometown, loneliness and longing often invaded my heart. Due to the time difference, I could only catch sporadic moments to video with my family and friends, and I felt extremely sad during that time. At home, everyone always treated me as a little sister and took care of me. However, abroad, everything had to be adapted from the beginning, without the company of family and friends, and all difficulties had to be faced by myself. At that time, I had problems with my mindset, and my condition declined. I often fell into self-doubt even though I was very strict with myself. For example, I wanted to do my best, but when I made a mistake in a race, my frustration would be particularly strong. In retrospect, I was overly ambitious for perfection at that time, which led to poor performance instead. Later, I learned to take it easy, and my teammates and head coach kept encouraging me, telling me, "Actually, you're doing very well, don't doubt yourself." In this way, I gradually got out of the rut, which is also a kind of growth.
--What experiences have stuck with you during your stay?
I remember an unforgettable and exciting scene from a match at the Park, home of the Celtic men's soccer team. A month before the match, we started counting down the days. Having played at other stadiums before and never having made an appearance at the Park, we were all incredibly excited to hear about the opportunity to play here. It's a big stadium and can hold a lot of fans. We had 4,000 to 5,000 spectators for the game that day, which was a lot more than usual. The sound of the gongs and drums beating on the pitch was constant, which gave us a very different feeling than usual (laughs).
-What was it like to win the League Cup with Celtic Ladies? What did it mean to you?
In the final, we naturally went all out for the title. When I actually got the title, I was both surprised and pleasantly surprised. At that moment, I realized I had really done it. After the game, we celebrated with the fans and did our signature dance, which was a great feeling. It was not long ago that I stayed at home, and I think it was a good start. This championship also gave me a great inspiration and made me want to continue to win championships in the following games.
--Do you have a player in mind?
I especially like Modric, and I also enjoyed watching Wu Lei play when I was a kid, when he was with Shanghai Dongya. I think he's very good, scores a lot of goals, and his performance on the field is radiant, and he's a role model to learn from. I also admire his courage to stay in the ocean, which takes a lot of courage.
-- Under what circumstances did you decide to stay in the ocean and take this brave step?
The idea of staying abroad has been in my mind for a long time, I am not satisfied with the status quo, and Celtic gave me this opportunity to try. Before I left, I discussed with my sisters in the Shanghai team the pros and cons of staying abroad and playing domestically, and carefully analyzed the various situations. My sisters told me that if you are young, you should dare to try. However, I don't think staying abroad is for everyone, and you have to think clearly about what you want before you take this step. For me, physical confrontation is my shortcoming, and the intensity of confrontation in the league here is very high, so I want to come and try to make up for my shortcomings.
--What are the expectations and plans for the future?
Shen Mengyu said, "No one doesn't want to wear 'China Red', and I hope to be able to wear the women's national team's uniform and fly on the field. However, there is still a gap between me and my sisters, and in order to realize this wish, I need to keep improving myself and keep working hard!"
