St. Louis Defeats Colorado 3-0 to Advance to Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final

(Commerce City, CO = Won Jeong) St. Louis CITY SC defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-0 to advance to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final.

St. Louis earned the victory in the 2026 U.S. Open Cup semifinal on September 16 at Colorado’s home stadium, DICK’S Sporting Goods Park.

Colorado opened the match in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Darren Yapi leading the attack and Georgi Minoungou and Morgan Whittaker operating on the left and right wings. Paxten Aaronson played as an attacking midfielder, providing additional support going forward.

Hamzat Ojediran and Wayne Frederick anchored the midfield, while Reggie Cannon, Rob Holding, Loïc Williams and Miguel Navarro formed Colorado’s back line. Adam Beaudry started in goal.

St. Louis countered with a 3-4-3 formation. Jeong Sang-bin started on the right side of the front three alongside Simon Becher and Alexandru Mățan.

Both teams looked for opportunities early in the match.

In the 27th minute, Minoungou fired a right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area, but St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki made the save.

The breakthrough came from Jeong.

In the 32nd minute, Jeong quickly pressured a ball played back toward the Colorado goalkeeper. Beaudry was unable to control the ball cleanly, and Jeong took advantage of the mistake, finishing with his right foot from close range to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.

Jeong’s shot went low toward the center of the goal, with the scoring opportunity carrying an expected-goals value of 79 percent.

Colorado attempted to respond after conceding. In the 36th minute, Aaronson tried a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area, but the attempt was blocked by the St. Louis defense.

St. Louis carried its 1-0 advantage into halftime.

The visitors increased the pressure after the break and doubled their lead in the 52nd minute.

Conrad Wallem played the ball into the middle from the right side, where Becher met it inside the penalty area. Becher struck a low left-footed shot past Beaudry to make it 2-0.

Just seven minutes later, St. Louis delivered the decisive third goal.

In the 59th minute, Mățan received a pass from Tomas Totland and broke into the center of the Colorado penalty area. Facing the goalkeeper one-on-one, Mățan placed a low right-footed shot into the bottom-right corner to extend the St. Louis lead to 3-0.

Colorado responded by making several changes in an effort to generate more offense.

Sayed Abu Farki entered the match in the 62nd minute, followed by Jackson Travis, Keegan Rosenberry and Donavan Phillip, who were all introduced in the 70th minute.

Colorado began creating more opportunities as the match entered its final stages.

Whittaker and Yapi had consecutive attempts in the 75th minute, while Phillip’s header one minute later was also blocked by the St. Louis defense. Colorado continued to push forward but could not find a way through.

St. Louis substituted Jeong in the 78th minute, bringing on Damion Downs with the visitors holding a comfortable 3-0 advantage. Jeong left the field after scoring the goal that had opened the match.

Colorado continued searching for a consolation goal through stoppage time, but St. Louis protected the clean sheet and closed out the match with a 3-0 victory.

With the win, St. Louis secured a place in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final.

St. Louis will face the Columbus Crew on October 21 at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title on the line.