Match of the month: 25 years ago – German U19 champions 2000

In the quarter-finals, the Werkself played the previous year's finalists VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday, 14 June, in front of 400 spectators as they battled for a 0-0 scoreline in sweltering heat. The chances of going through are good ahead of the home game four days later.

At the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, 2,000 spectators see an impressive Bayer 04 team win 2-0 with two goals from attacking midfielder Hüzeyfe Dogan on 30 and 81 minutes.

The team led by Thomas Hörster have to travel to Berlin for the first leg of the semi-final and again they secure a draw as in the Stuttgart match and are in confident mood ahead of the return game. This time in front of 500 spectators the team led by captain Nico Reckert make no mistakes. The outstanding left winger Thorsten Burkhardt sets up the opening goal for Hüzeyfe Dogan on six minutes, makes it 2-0 on 41 minutes and sets up Dogan again for the third goal three minutes later. They take the comfortable lead into half-time.

The Werkself manage the lead in the second half but Christian Tiffert, who went on to play for VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, pulled a goal back but Stefan Bungert responds with a goal straightaway. And the Bayer 04 U19 team are in the finals for the German championship for the fifth time having only won the final once before. That was a 2-0 victory against FC Nürnberg in 1986.

7,500 spectators come to the BayArena on 2 July 2000 to watch the final against holders Werder Bremen. After the team from North Germany take the lead on eight minutes, set up by a certain Simon Rolfes, Thorsten Burkhardt levels on 22 minutes. With three minutes to play before half-time, Hüzeyfe Dogan hits a free kick into the top left corner from 23 metres out and just before the whistle Thorsten Burkhardt scores again for a comfortable 3-1 lead at half-time.

When Nasir El Kasmi makes it 4-1 on 58 minutes it looks like the game is all over but Simon Rolfes makes it 4-2 after a brilliant solo run. That is the final score and there are great celebrations at the end of the game.

Here is the line-up of the the Werkself youth team:

Tom Starke – Nenad Lazarevic, Mile Bozic, Nico Reckert, Petr Coupek (Stefan Bungert 85’), Nasir El Kasmi (Landon Donovan 63’), Michal Habljak, Tim Jerat, Hüzeyfe Dogan, Thorsten Burkhardt (Fabian Ewertz-Käfer 71’), Felix Bably

Several players in this team make the step up to professional football with more or less success. Goalkeeper Tom Starke was in our first team squad up to 2006 but only played for the Bayer 04 reserves. In the Bundesliga he mainly played for MSV Duisburg and TSG Hoffenheim. His final club is Bayern Munich where he is now the youth goalkeeping coach.

Left-back Petr Coupek played for the Bayer 04 reserves for three years before moving onto the Czech top-flight with FC Slavacko, Banik Ostrau und FC Zbrojovka Brno.

Right-winger Nasir El Kasmi also played for the reserves in his first matches at the senior level. He made two appearances for Morocco in 2004. But he failed to make the breakthrough in Germany at MSV Duisburg or Holstein Kiel.

Landon Donovan only plays for the U19s in the final. The American failed to find his feet in the Bundesliga – both at Bayer 04 and later at Bayern Munich. He is a legend in the USA and with 157 international caps he is the USA player with the second most appearances.

Tim Jerat plays for the Bayer 04 youth team for another year. After two years with the reserves he moves on to FSV Mainz 05, Wuppertaler SV and Arminia Bielefeld and he ended his career in 2017 at Viktoria Köln.

And Hüzeyfe Dogan also plays for the Bayer 04 reserves in the following three years. He twice plays for Bayer 04 in the Champions League but does not appear in the Bundesliga. However, he played professional football up to 2018 including for Ankaragücü, SC Paderborn and Union Berlin. Today he is the coach and player for the Bayer 04 Veterans team.

Thorsten Burkhardt was in the Werkself squad in the Bundesliga for the next two years but does not feature. He plays for the Bayer 04 reserves and then moves to Bundesliga 2 in 2002 when he joins SpVgg Greuther Fürth. He also played for Wacker Burghausen and Alemannia Aachen and spends most his playing career in Bundesliga 2.