Anne-Catherine Berger could make her European debut this summer when Germany seeks revenge for two early withdrawals from the tournament.
The 31-year-old Chelsea goalkeeper hasn’t always had the odds on his side.
I never liked to hear from everyone how sad they are, Ann-Catherine Berger tells watson.de.
The national team that won everything they could win did not come to the European Championship as a candidate.
Germany were knocked out in the quarter-finals at two consecutive tournaments (the World Cup and the Olympics) and bookmakers kept Sweden as the main gold favorite when the tournament started. So, for once, the Germans are a bit far from their position – or?
We will never be happy to get second, third or fourth place. I think there is always – and always will be – an expectation in Germany to win, goalkeeper Anne Catherine Berger tells FourFourTwo.
I got cancer 2017
The Chelsea goalkeeper is part of a trio of powerful goalkeepers where Merle Froomes outshines Anne-Catherine Berger and Almut Schulte.
Regardless of whether Germany wins the European Championship or not, and regardless of whether Ann-Katrin Berger is allowed to play or not, she can at least enjoy the fact that she is still a footballer. It wasn’t a given when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in November 2017.
The prognosis was not good and it was a tough time. But I think it was good for my career and I was stronger than ever when I could, Berger told Sky Sports.
Berger played for Birmingham when she fell ill and was back in just four months. She then returned in style before moving to Chelsea and becoming a key player in the first team.
Sometimes you take things for granted and I think maybe I took football for granted during that time. In some ways, Berger says, it was good that the threat from me made me enjoy football more.
“Put my life in their hands”
In an interview with watson.de, Berger asks herself how she managed to get past the disease when she was far from the security of her homeland.
There are days I don’t think at all and days I ask myself: How did I really do that? Especially since my English wasn’t good at all at the time, says Berger.
At that time, I only did what the doctor and the goalkeeper coach told me to do. I trusted them and literally put my life in their hands.
She is “partly happy” that she was not home when she fell ill.
– You would obviously prefer to hear something like that at home and then walk away, but I couldn’t. I think it was good for me that there was no alternative to giving up either and it made me stronger.
Nor does she want any pity.
Because I never liked to hear from everyone how sad they are. And sure, the people around me in England were also very empathetic but on a level I can handle.
Germany won their first European Championship match against Denmark 4-0.
