Meet Ann-Katrin Berger, the German goalkeeper who surpassed the cancer and now shines in the Euro

by Andrea
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Player is enjoying sports maturity with the experience of maintaining her career in the elite of women’s football, despite the thyroid tumor suffered in 2017 and reappearing in 2022

EFE/EPA/MICHAEL BUHOLZER
Berger performed the miracle of the night in extension

Time stopped when it made the best defense of the female Euro to save against AE secured the triumph stopping two charges in the penalty shootout with two defenses on penalty kicks. “My best life,” celebrated the goalkeeper, who suffered twice of thyroid cancer. “I’m not a very emotional person. I feel happy to be here and to have the team I have. The time I spent here makes me proud to get where we arrived. I’m living my best moment and I’m in the semifinal,” said the 34 -year -old, clearly the best player of the match, shortly after the classification in Basel, Switzerland.

Two penalties and a goal

Minutes earlier, she had made a difference in the game between France and Germany in the penalty shootout, when defending Alice Sombath’s penalty after intercepted the first, charged by Amel Majri. She thus closed her perfect performance by converting her charge. Last year, in the dispute for penalties of the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympic Games, she defended two Canadian kicks before converting the decisive. Germany won the bronze after defeating Spain (1-0), whom will meet in the semifinals on Wednesday in Zurich.

‘Mannschaft’ resisted almost the entire match with one less player (6 to 5 after a 1-1 draw) after Kathrine Henrich was expelled 13 minutes due to an inexplicable hair tug in Giedge Mbock. Germany, a dominant power in the female Euro, with eight titles in 13 editions (the last in 2013), is now two steps to regain the continental throne.

“Step by step. We first celebrated, then we focused on Spain, a very difficult opponent. They all did their best and we need to recover,” Berger said, referring to his team’s excessive effort. The former goalkeeper of the tournament’s top scorer, Esther González (four goals) at Gotham FC in New York since last year. They will meet again in the semifinals.

Without looking at the past

Berger is enjoying sports maturity with the experience of maintaining his career in the elite of women, despite the thyroid cancer suffered in 2017 and reappearing in 2022, shortly after the defeat to England in the Euro 2022 final. “Everything that happened in 2022 was in the past and now I’m looking at the future,” she said in St. Jakob Park. Prior to the two penalties that gave the advantage of his selection, Berger performed the night miracle in overtime (105 ‘+2) as he fly toward his goal to prevent what would be a goal against his teammate Janina Minga, who had diverted the head ball.

“I did my part in the game. The team worked very hard during the 120 minutes, so all the credit is from the team, not mine. Everyone should talk about the performance of the team, because it was amazing, impressive,” said the star, humble. Her selection mate, Sjoeke Nüsken, praised her, “She’s so calm, so smart … I knew she would defend the penalties. She’s an amazing goalkeeper, and we’re very happy that she was on our team.”

*With information from AFP
Posted by Fernando Dias

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