Soccer in America is a sport built on the shoulders of predecessors, and few places embody that truth like St. Louis. As St. Louis City SC prepares for the club’s first Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final against the Columbus Crew on Wednesday (live on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network, 8 p.m. ET), the city’s deep tournament history looms large.
While an MLS finalist from the region might have seemed improbable not long ago, the greater St. Louis area boasts a rich Open Cup pedigree. The last local team to hoist the trophy was the Busch Seniors in 1988, decades after the city’s first final appearance in 1920.
“As long as St. Louis did not have an MLS team, no,” Jeff Robben said when asked if he ever envisioned a local side reaching the final again after his Busch Seniors tenure as goalkeeper. “Once USL and MLS teams began competing for the Open Cup, how my Busch Seniors team accomplished what they did just wasn’t going to happen again. In fact, a team here in St. Louis competed in the Open Cup this year, advanced to earn a home game against a USL side from Omaha, and lost seven or eight to nothing. That shows you the vast difference in levels.”
It has been 38 years since the area celebrated an Open Cup championship. For much of that span, the city lacked an MLS franchise entirely; St. Louis City SC was founded in 2019 and began play in 2023 with backing from local enterprises Enterprise Holdings and World Wide Technology. To understand the present, however, one must return to the Busch Seniors era.
Courtesy of Dave Lange
Finding Europe in Missouri
When discussing soccer origins, the answer often reveals a unique personal journey. In St. Louis, however, the narrative is remarkably uniform: teams coalesce around Catholic parishes, alternating between soccer and baseball with the seasons.
“The history of St. Louis soccer goes way back,” said Joe Olwig, the former Busch Seniors head coach. “The early days of U.S. Open Cup champions go way back, and it really stems from kids growing up with soccer as their primary sport because it was inexpensive for parents. All you needed was a ball, some cleats, and gym shorts, and you could go out and practice and play.”
That accessible, community-driven model is precisely what modern American soccer development strives to recapture as opportunities for young players expand.
Waves of Irish, Scottish, German, and Italian immigration gave St. Louis soccer a distinct European character compared to other U.S. regions, fueling early dominance. In league play, players earned spots through merit and were routinely recruited by stronger clubs, a pipeline that produced Open Cup titles and national team representatives. When the U.S. men’s national team traveled to the 1950 World Cup, St. Louis was heavily represented—years before the St. Louis Stars debuted in the North American Soccer League, MLS’s predecessor.
David versus Goliath
The NASL era paused the city’s Open Cup success until the 1980s restored St. Louis to the summit. St. Louis Kutis SC won in 1986; the Busch Seniors followed two years later, defeating the San Francisco Greek Americans. These were not typical semi-pro outfits.
“These are guys we read about in the papers and watched on TV, and suddenly we’re playing against them,” recalled Tim Loughman, a defender for the Seniors. “But knowing the team we had, the talent and diversity on our roster, we had a lot of confidence. We knew it would be a battle and nothing would be given to us.”
The victory sent the Busch Seniors to the Concacaf Champions Cup, where they faced Mexican giants Chivas Guadalajara. St. Louis won the home leg at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (formerly Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park) before traveling to Jalisco Stadium for the return.
Several players couldn’t secure time off work for the trip to Mexico. The second leg ended in a heavy defeat, but the experience illuminated the potential for St. Louis—and U.S. soccer broadly.
“The atmosphere was incredible, and we ended up losing 8-0 in that second leg, so we didn’t advance. But the experience was incredible; beating them in the first leg shows what a special team we had,” Loughman said. “It was an incredible season all around. The dynamic is different today for the better with professional teams involved. Joe and I take great pride, as does our team, in being part of that legacy and bringing it forward. Now our job is to support St. Louis City.”
The Job Isn’t Finished
Support from Anheuser-Busch and local companies has been critical to both St. Louis soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation. Without those early backers, the current moment—where a 36-year-old coach, Yoann Damet, engineered a 21-game unbeaten streak, the longest in MLS history, en route to this final—might not exist.
Dave Lange, author of St. Louis Soccer: An Illustrated Timeline, has witnessed decades of local soccer and says this current side has astounded him.
“The whole build-up, the passes, the finishing—I was just amazed. It was the best brand of soccer I’ve seen in a long time in person in St. Louis, that’s for sure,” Lange said.
While the Open Cup lost some luster recently because not every MLS club participated, it remains a vital piece of U.S. Soccer. All MLS teams will return to the competition next season. It is fitting that St. Louis City SC could claim the club’s first trophy here, bringing the narrative full circle. The 1988 champions are proud of their achievement, but they also hope to witness the day they are no longer the last St. Louis team to lift the historic hardware.
“The Cup for me is like part of history, like the cup in every place in the world—everybody plays it. I played in the cup in France growing up. It’s also an opportunity to bring together all the different levels of soccer in the country. That Cup is unique; it’s got a lot of history,” Damet said. “But like every other cup, it’s a trophy, another opportunity to compete to win something. As I said in January, I’m no different today—it was always a competition we would care about and invest our energy into. Right now, the club’s history is essentially blank, so we need to keep striving to fill that trophy cabinet. Having the chance to be the first is an amazing opportunity we’ve earned through our journey in this competition.”
The involvement of the 1988 team in the current preparation underscores how woven the tournament is into the city’s fabric.
“There’s always been a great awareness of that competition because it’s part of that soccer fabric. If you’re from St. Louis, chances are you have some connection to one of those teams,” Lange said. “For example, my wife’s grandparents came from Sicily; her second cousin played on the 1950 Open Cup team, Simpkins-Ford. There are many connections like that—someone you know, or a relative, who played at a high level.”
Tim Ream’s resurgence with the USMNT and Bosnia’s World Cup base camp in the city have restored St. Louis’s reputation as a soccer hotbed. The MLS team could elevate that status further. Their path to the final is impressive on its own, though they must overcome the absence of star striker Rafael Navarro, who is cup-tied.
Departures of fan favorites Marcel Hartel and Eduard Löwen were significant blows, but the front office backed Damet by acquiring Navarro, Carlo Holse, and Alexandru Mățan, transforming the side into a serious MLS force.
“It was a painful beginning because of the emotional attachment to players who left, like Klauss and especially Eduard Löwen, who dealt with personal tragedy and serious illness limiting his play,” Lange said. “People had deep emotional investment in those guys, and it was hard to accept. Everyone still misses them, but they’ve seen we’re a much better team with the moves made over the last few months.”
Reaching the final is a major accomplishment, and connecting with fans amid roster upheaval is difficult. Damet and the front office have navigated that challenge deftly.
“I think the resurgence with this year’s team, being in the final, is a throwback to the early days of work ethic—blue-collar, team-oriented—with some additional talent picked up at the break,” Olwig said, explaining the strong supporter connection. “It’s refreshing to see the way the team plays because it reminds us, Tim would agree, of the old days of following St. Louis soccer.”
A soccer team representing its community is essential to the game’s growth. St. Louis City SC is doing exactly that. Win or lose on Wednesday, this team and this city are not going anywhere.
