The header from Janina Minge looped horribly for Germany, taking on a sort of vicious arc that could only come from a bad accident, or a cruel twist of fate. Ann-Katrin Berger had already taken a couple of paces off her line in anticipation of Selma Bacha’s in-swinging cross, then made another two quick steps forward as she decided she was going to try and collect it. When Minge leapt, sending the ball back towards goal, Berger seemed stranded out of position, the goalkeeper’s left foot touching the six-yard line.
It’s a goal, it has to be. Germany are a player down and hanging on for penalties but this is the first time since their early red card that those in white have stopped. They stand frozen to the spot as if momentarily accepting their fate.
Berger, though, is still alive to the moment. If there is anyone who knows anything about refusing to accept the hand that life has dealt it is the 34-year-old goalkeeper, who has spun around and taken huge strides while France’s players are raising their arms in celebration.
Perhaps the secret to how Berger reacts so instinctively is the message written in ink on her neck, the symbols of her tattoo spelling out the phrase “all we have is now”. Berger’s tattoo covers up the scars left behind by her treatment for thyroid cancer. First diagnosed in 2017, Berger learned that her cancer had returned during the last European Championships in 2022 and as Germany reached the final. After four years of living cancer-free, she faced another fight.
But Berger recovered and then returned for the second time to play at the highest level. An unused substitute and back-up to Merle Frohms at Euro 2022, Berger is now Germany’s No 1 after making her tournament debut at the age of 34.
“I feel like I’m not really an emotional person but I’m glad that I’m here and I’m glad that I have the team-mates I have,” she said. “What happened here makes me proud to be here. Whatever happened in 2022, I’m looking forward now to the future. Now I live my best life and I’m in the semi-final.”
To get there, Berger had to first reach Minge’s backward header. She scrambled back, then, while tracking the flight of the ball over the top of her right shoulder, threw herself towards the line with her left arm fully outstretched. As Berger then started to fall towards the ground, she found enough power in her left arm to claw the ball off the line and away from danger. It was the save of the tournament and it kept Germany level as they survived to reach the penalty shoot-out.
It would have been fair enough for Berger to feel invincible at this point, which is rather how Germany played penalties. “I knew she would save them,” said Sjoeke Nusken.
Berger first saved from Amel Majri, diving to her left and landing on the shoulder that already took a heavy blow when she rescued Germany in extra time. Then, at 3-3 and sudden death, Berger stepped up to take Germany’s fifth penalty, two nights after Sweden’s goalkeeper Jennifer Falk had missed from the same position against England. This time, Berger barely blinked as she found the corner.
“I think credit should go to the team, not me,” Berger said. “Because maybe it was the decisive moment in the penalty shootout, but everyone here should talk about t the performance of the team, because that was amazing and incredible.”
Strapped to Berger’s water bottle was a cheat-sheet with the penalty records of France’s likely takers. But tellingly, Berger admitted afterwards that she did not look at it. She was living at the moment, epitomising Germany’s resistance, and her second save of the shoot-out to deny France’s Alice Sombath sent them through to the semi-finals.
