By Ben Wright
St. Louis CITY SC's magical 2026 season keeps getting better.
The club lifted their first-ever trophy on Wednesday night at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, defeating the Columbus Crew in a dramatic penalty-kick shootout to win the 2026 US Open Cup and book their spot in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup.
"It’s the first trophy for me and for a lot of guys and for the city," game-winning penalty scorer Daniel Edelman told CBS Sports. "Because you look up there [gestures to travelling fans] and you see that, and they completely deserve to have some silverware. And for us as a team, what we've been through this year, it’s phenomenal for us to have this night and have this trophy."
Terrific turnaround
St. Louis's turnaround in 2026 has been nothing short of remarkable. Through 10 matches, they had earned just six points in MLS, sitting penultimate in the Western Conference table.
Then, a switch flipped. St. Louis went on a staggering league-record 21-match unbeaten run in all competitions (19 in MLS play) to climb to second place, and within touching distance of the top spot in the West.
Under first-year head coach Yoan Damet, they've capped the turnaround off with silverware.
"I think for us it started on day one," recalled forward Simon Becher. "First day, Damet came in. He gave us our goals for the season, and one of the goals was Open Cup. I think the team really bought into that.
"Regardless of who we were playing, whether it was home or away, regardless of who played, the whole team embraced it, and we knew we were going to struggle at moments, but I think that's where the strength of the group is."
Ten months later, the prophecy has been fulfilled.
"Let me enjoy tonight. I’m the first one always to look at the next game, but tonight I'm gonna give myself a little break," said Damet. "Listen, it means a lot for the club. Obviously, it's the fourth year of existence of the club. You always want to fill the trophy cabinet. But it takes time, it’s not easy.
"Success is not built overnight. So we started the year thinking: let's implement a clear vision, a clear identity of how we want to do things, and let's see how far we can go in year one."
Written in the stars
Wednesday's win is a fitting homecoming to St. Louis for the Open Cup. One of the oldest tournaments in global football, the Open Cup is steeped in history in the self-titled "soccer capital of America". Between 1920 and 1988, 10 teams from St. Louis won the Cup, including Ben Millers, Scullin Steel, Stix, Baer and Fuller FC, and St. Louis Busch Seniors.
Now, nearly 40 years later, the Open Cup is once again returning to St. Louis.
"That was one of the things we spoke about at the start of the year," said Damet. "We wanted to write the history for the club. I said to the boys a couple of weeks ago, we wrote the history in the league with the [unbeaten] streak.
"I'm super happy that these guys are gonna be remembered to be the first doing it for the club. It's amazing. I hope we will all look back in 20, 50 years, and be really proud of what we've accomplished together."
Lundt to the rescue
Goalkeeper Ben Lundt proved the unlikely hero in Wednesday's win.
The 31-year-old backup 'keeper was called into action unexpectedly, replacing Roman Bürki after a scary collision required the captain to be stretchered off and taken to a local Columbus hospital. Lundt made a vital stop in the shootout, saving the Crew's first penalty from Santiago Rodríguez to give St. Louis a crucial early lead.
His teammates did the rest, burying all five of St. Louis's penalties with aplomb to secure the first trophy in club history.
"I like penalties. Throughout my career I've been good on penalties so I know what I can do," said Lundt. "It's obviously hard coming into a game, and it's even harder to see the captain of your team, your friend, that I've been with for four years, go out of a game on a stretcher. It doesn't get harder than this.
"The stakes are high, the stadium was loud, a very hard assignment, but I knew these guys. They've been practicing penalties with me in training and I barely had a chance the last couple of weeks. I was very confident in these guys and I knew [if] I make one save, that could be enough."
Turns out, it was.