On Thursday, the DFB women will start their first Olympic game. The question of who will be in the German goal is still open.
Horst Hrubesch has left the much-discussed goalkeeper question open before the German women's Olympic opening match against Australia. “The players know. The line-up will be announced tomorrow,” said the national coach in Marseille. However, there is some evidence that Ann-Katrin Berger will stand between the posts on Thursday (from 7 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online) for long-time regular goalkeeper Merle Frohms.
Hrubesch had always left the question of number one open. In the penultimate test match before the Summer Games against Iceland (0:3), Frohms, who was between the posts at the 2022 European Championship in England and the 2023 World Cup in Australia, looked bad when a goal was conceded. Before that, however, the 29-year-old from VfL Wolfsburg was considered unchallenged. In the team photo before the first training session in Marseille, Berger was already sitting in the middle, smiling – between Frohms and the goalkeeper Stina Johannes, who had been nominated on call.
Berger from the US club NJ/NY Gotham FC took her chance in the 4-0 win against Austria in Hanover with a confident performance. She even managed the feat of setting up two goals with long balls. The 33-year-old Swabian has only played ten international matches and previously played for Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain, among others. “Of course, it would be the icing on the cake if I were to play too,” she said after her performance against Austria.
After being diagnosed with cancer twice in recent years, Berger quickly returned to competitive sport. She was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2017 and was diagnosed again at the 2022 European Championships in England.
The goalkeeper is highly rated by Hrubesch and recently put pressure on Frohms (52 international matches) after her move to the USA had visibly strengthened her. Her rise makes her “really proud,” said Berger before the Summer Games. “And especially with my previous illness, it makes me even stronger.”
