Missed opportunities and unmarked men were the order of the day as BOHFS St. Louis was soundly defeated by Union Omaha 8-0. Despite their best efforts there was not much BOHFS could do to stop the USL League One juggernauts in the Round 1 defeat of the 2026 US Open Cup.
This was the first Open Cup appearance for BOHFS in the slightly over one year history of the team. They were also the first St. Louis area amateur team to appear in the tournament since the beginning of the Modern Era. To note this historic moment for both BOHFS and the city, soccer players from previous St. Louis area Open Cup champions were brought out and recognized before the match commenced.
That would be the end of the festivities as far as BOHFS were concerned. From practically the first kick it was off to the races for Union Omaha.
Barely 10 minutes had ticked off when Omaha first found the net. A deft pass found Gabriel Cabral unmarked in the BOHFS box which he converted for the opening goal.
The second goal was much the same as the first. With Sami Guediri unmarked in the box he took a crack at goal that was stopped by BOHFS keeper Liam Gibbs. Gibbs couldn’t corral the ball and it fell at Guediri’s feet. From there it was academic as Guediri slammed home the second goal.
“As the game goes, if you find the space you exploit it,” Guediri said.
Next up in the conga-line of goalscorers for Union Omaha was Dylan Borczak. A field switching pass bounced off a BOHFS defender to an open Borczak who proceeded to knock the ball down and put it in with a half-volley.
All in all, BOHFS did not seem overmatched by Omaha in the first half. There were some BOHFS chances and the Omaha goals were mostly up to mental errors by the hometown team. Going into the locker the score was a reasonable 3-0.
Then the flood gates opened as Union Omaha poured the goals in during the second half. It started almost immediately as Edrey Caceres powered a ball past Gibbs.
Second half substitutions by Omaha skipper Vincenzo Candella truly turned things on their head. As three of the five goals that occurred after the 70th minute were scored by second-half substitutions.
“I think we’re a squad that has great depth. I trust the guys that are starting the game or coming off the bench,” Candella said, “You see that this year we built a squad that is 20 deep. We trust every guy to perform at a very high level.”
A 69th minute substitute, Sergio Ors-Navarro made an impact immediately scoring a goal on a well-struck ball that was deflected into the net in the 72nd minute.
“I saw a lane on the far post, but it got deflected and I’m fortunate that it went in,” Ors-Navarro said.
It wouldn’t take long for Ors-Navarro to score again as he banged home a far-post goal in the 74th minute securing the brace.
“Feels great.” he said, “I was wanting to help the team as much as possible. High energy coming in to score a couple goals.”
The next sub to score a goal was Ors-Navarro’s fellow 69th minute substitute Pato Botello-Faz who made the score 7-0 in the 81st minute after catching the BOHFS keeper flat footed on a strike from the top of the box.
The final goal came in the 90th minute by Samuel Owasu was nothing but window dressing to cap off a decisive rout to move Union Omaha into Round 2.
The Owls of Union Omaha are begging to make St. Louis their regular roost for Open Cup games. This was the third time in four years they have come to the Gateway City. The previous two occasions, dropping decisions to MLS foes St. Louis CITY SC. The victory means they are one step closer to again returning to face CITY when MLS teams join in Round 3. But, that wasn’t on the mind of Candella.
“Well see, we take it round by round, game by game. With a league game on Sunday we’ll see what happens moving forward,” he said. “We come with the same approach. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team from the Midwest Premier League or a team from MLS, we’re going to try to compete and we’re going to try to win.”