The city of St. Louis returns to the US Open Cup Final. St. Louis CITY has no time to celebrate.

St. Louis CITY SC crossed another first off the list on Wednesday when Yoann Damet’s men trounced the Colorado Rapids 0-3 in Commerce City to punch their ticket to next month’s U.S. Open Cup Final. The first US Open Cup Final to feature a team from St. Louis since the St. Louis Busch Seniors won the city's 10th USOC title in 1988.

It’s hard to argue that the U.S. Open Cup means more to any other metro in the country than it means to St. Louis, a fact that bore out in the stands as CITY fans could be heard over the home crowd throughout the night.

CITY SC rewarded that traveling support with another complete game, a 3-0 win where they outshot Colorado 5-1 on target, produced 5 big chances to Colorado’s 0, and outdueled a team that prides itself on winning the 50/50 battles. 

“Feels great.” Roman Bürki said, “We will do everything we can to go to the final to be the first in club history to go to a final. The job is not done yet.”

Damet pushed back on the idea that his squad was opportunistic in finding opportunities against a Rapids squad that still owned a whopping 63% possession and outpassed St. Louis 473-278. Numbers that St. Louis would usually take but, in their quest to control the match, have arrived at a pragmatic game plan against Matt Wells’s side that aims to force Colorado to play through them and attack the backline directly. It’s not quite the bunker and counter game plan that saw Minnesota score its opener last Saturday, but it was a side that usually ranks among the league’s leaders in PPDA — passes per defensive action—attempting to win more balls from their midblock before springing attacks into space.

It was a dangerous game plan. 

CITY SC utilized Sangbin’s speed into open space along with his ability to draw defenders out of position as the attack worked to manipulate the spacing within Colorado’s back line. Through 3 matches vs the Rapids, it’s an approach that has resulted in 3 big performances for the South Korean attacker, who picked up his 4th goal of the season — and 2nd vs Colorado — when he pounced on a poor touch from goalkeeper Adam Boudry. 

Simon Becher made it 2-0 in the 2nd half after Sangbin retreated into the defensive 3rd, laid the ball off to Chris Durkin before he sent Wallem into the attack, opening up a 1v1 for Becher to sink for his 8th goal of the season. 

Timo Baumgartl helped clinch the club’s first final when he sent a long ball over the top on a quickly taken restart; Tomas Totland rose high to head the pass into the run of Alex Mățan, who easily slid the ball past Boudry.

“Just everything happened so quickly.” Mățan said, “Tots [Tomas Totland] had a beautiful touch. Timo [Baumgartl] also had a beautiful ball. I had a good touch, and that was it. Everything happened quickly.”

The final, a 3-0 scoreline where the Rapids maintained the majority of possession but never truly created a dangerous moment, registering a single shot on target. A banner night for CITY SC, who not only grabbed the match by the horns but will also head into Saturday with a fully rested Rafael Navarro and Carlo Holse. 

It was also a banner night for the Conrad Wallem-Tomas Totland wingback partnership. The Norwegians both picked up assists as they pushed high into the attack, while both were tasked with important defensive matchups. Totland battled with Morgan Whittaker – who looks to be the real deal in a few short appearances since arriving from Middlesbrough – while Conrad Wallem had 15 defensive contributions and won 12/17 duels. 

The quick turnaround won’t allow CITY SC to dwell on what they’ve achieved. A group that wasn’t expected to make noise in year one of a long project has run with the opportunity to make a final in an abbreviated U.S. Open Cup field and can wrap up a spot in the 2027 CONCACAF Champions Cup before the playoffs even kick off. 

“We want to write a history for the club.” Yoann Damet said, “It's the first final in club history. It's the first game that is going to matter for a trophy. Very happy for the guys. Very happy for the group. It's their reward for all the work they've been putting in, all the trust they have in each other. Together they had nice football on the pitch, so I'm very pleased, very happy for them first and foremost, but also happy for everybody behind the scenes that is working really hard every single day to help the guys perform. I think today is a full club performance and full club moments that we need to enjoy.”

It’s the magic of the cup.

A return to Columbus.

St. Louis will travel to Columbus on Wednesday, October 21st for the US Open Cup Final. It’s the first Final in club history at the stadium where CITY2 lost the inaugural MLS NEXT Pro Final in 2022. That 2022 Crew 2 side, managed by Laurent Courtois, was GMed by Corey Wray, who used the club’s MLSNP success as a major stepping stone in his career. That Crew2 win featured a young group who became crucial depth pieces for the Crew’s 2023 title-winning campaign where Yoann Damet assisted Wilfried Nancy. 

The Crew will be motivated, both by the return of Damet and the return of Alex Mățan, who was a somewhat important piece in Columbus before leaving for Europe. 

There is another world where Wray and Damet are in charge of this version of the Crew, but instead, they’re returning as hostile conquerors against a Crew side who can salvage their season with a USOC win. Meanwhile, CITY SC wants to kick off this new era with Continental soccer, and the city of St. Louis yearns to return to the US Open Cup pinnacle. 

The storylines write themselves.

Now, CITY SC are in a Final and pushing for home field advantage in the Western Conference playoffs. No one predicted this run in January, now just 4 matches away from tying the league’s longest unbeaten streak.

Looking ahead.

Yoann Damet will have to quickly adjust to a different challenge as his CITY SC hosts Josh Sargent and Toronto FC on Saturday. 

TFC has been an enigma recently. Toronto is 12th in the Eastern Conference table but has underperformed their expected numbers all season long. That has reflected in 8 points from their last 5 matches, which includes 2-1 wins over Miami and Nashville as well as a 4-4 draw vs Chicago and a 0-3 loss in Orlando last weekend. Those numbers say that Toronto can compete – and beat – the best clubs in the league, but it’s a defensive unit that leaks goals and an attacking group liable to bad nights in front of goal.

Away from BMO, TFC has also failed to grab points. The win at Miami is an outlier for a group who has only won twice away from home this season, and only once in the 6 road matches post-World Cup break.

There is pressure on Toronto to turn the season around after spending big on Josh Sargent this spring and CDM Niklas Dorsch, but the continued absence of Djordje Mihailovic has hurt a group who lacks control on the ball. Mihailovic will miss this weekend as he continues recovering from a hamstring injury he picked up in training earlier this month. Terrible luck. TFC have won just twice without Mihailovic this season, and have never won away from BMO Field. 

All the while, Josh Sargent would love to score in his first MLS homecoming. 

Lineup decisions.

Toronto has allowed clubs to take space on the dribble as their structure loosens in transition, which may have some say in a St. Louis lineup that will be reaching the end of a 9-match stretch over the last 5 weeks. The good news: Carlo Holse and Rafael Navarro didn’t play midweek, and Damet has nailed the rotation over the past few weeks heading into this match. Tomas Totland was rested last weekend while Conrad Wallem played big minutes vs. both Minnesota and Colorado. 

The big question for Saturday’s rotation will be in the Edelman-Durkin midfield. There should be some thought to rotating Daniel Edelman, who was taken out for the final 30 minutes last Saturday, when he started next to Dante Polvara, who moonlighted in the midfield. I don’t see that as an option this weekend, with Polvara playing so many minutes this week and with Edelman’s mobility compared to the expectations as the base of the midfield diamond. 

I could also envision Damet wanting more north-south play against a TFC who has been susceptible to balls between the lines. Sangbin could return to the XI with Becher playing heavy minutes lately. I think that could morph into a front pairing of Sangbin running off of Navarro with the midfield diamond rotating underneath that movement. This could also be the most important usage of Wallem inverting into the midfield, but Damet could throw a curveball with so much in the air after unloading the tank on Wednesday. 

As always, this formation is fluid; you can take a snapshot in every phase of play and see something completely different. 

Despite the recent rotations, CITY SC have averaged 3 goals a match over the past 5 matches and are 3rd in MLS in goals scored over that span. It’s good for the league’s 5th-best goal differential, even if they have outscored their production at times. Those attacking numbers – helped by the number of players CITY SC has been able to manipulate into the attacking 3rd – have also come with a defensive record that has allowed the 12th most goals in the league across that span. 

As Yoann Damet talks about evolutions within his squad, shoring things up defensively without shutting down the attacking fluidity will be the next frontier. 

MLS Roster Profiles.

It’s always nice to see the roster transparency in MLS this time of year and St. Louis is set up well for the future after Corey Wray took a chisel to the roster this summer.

CITY SC came out of the summer with the 3rd most GAM in MLS – that will probably change as summer sales are converted to GAM after clubs receive payments – along with an open U22 spot – 2 after Sangbin’s contract expires this summer. 

Along with Sangbin, CITY SC will have important decisions with a whopping 9 options to pick up at the end of the season.

Tomas Ostrak, Timo Baumgartl, Tomas Totland, Kyle Hiebert, Christian Olivares, Celio Pompeu, Brendan McSorely, Miggy Perez, and Josh Yaro will all have their final option available this winter. It is fairly obvious who will have their option picked up – assuming the wackiness of a midseason contract expiry in 2027 isn’t completely renegotiated. Totland and Baumgartl have been key pieces in Yoann Damet’s setup this season, while Miggy Perez is a cost effective homegrown midfielder on the supplemental roster. I also assume Olivares is picked up despite his spot on the senior roster; the 24 year old keeper proved he can do the job under fire at the USL level and seems to be the best option on the ball if Roman Bürki needs a long term replacement over the next two seasons. St. Louis has to start planning for their future at the position, and while the cupboard is stocked, Olivares returned from his Jacksonville loan following Collin Welsh’s long term injury, meaning that the club might want more cover at the position. Olivares’s recall also coincides with Célio’s inclusion on the SEI list.

Célio’s transfer to the SEI list isn’t a setback in his recovery but more of an indication that his recovery process won’t have him back in time for the end of the year, while the club needed the roster spot to bring back Olivares. It’s hard to know what that means for Célio’s option, but the lack of playing time earlier in the season combined with another long term injury makes it more unlikely that he’ll be picked up.

That leaves Ostrák, Hiebert, McSorely, and Yaro, who are all likely to be declined. Ostrák is a player who has fit in well with Damet’s system and clearly has the talent to do it at an MLS level, but injuries are his biggest weakness. I could see Ostrák negotiating at a lower contract, but as a TAM player, CITY SC need more reliability. McSorely has fallen further down the depth chart with the signings of Navarro, Downs, and Ault, and needs to sign in a system that values his skillset. There’s an MLS player there, but it has to be the right fit. 

Finally, I do not see Hiebert or Yaro returning with both players essentially exiled this season, despite Hiebert occupying a senior roster spot.

Corey Wray will have at least two international spots to play with this winter, along with over $4 million in GAM, there is flexibility.