2026 US Open Cup Round 3: St. Louis CITY falls short of tacos in shutout of FC Tulsa

St. Louis CITY SC scored 20 minutes in, then added three more goals to take down USL Championship side FC Tulsa 4-0 in Wednesday’s Round of 32 matchup in the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at Energizer Park.

After beating San Antonio FC and Little Rock Rangers in the first two rounds of the Open Cup; FC Tulsa made its first trip to St. Louis since defeating now-defunct Saint Louis FC in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Attempting to keep the dream alive in their third consecutive road match in Open Cup play, Tulsa did not shy away from CITY, playing aggressively and getting a handful of set pieces in the first half.

“We played a very good team in Tulsa that came out with a plan, that went all in, that was brave,” said CITY coach Yoann Damet. “So, credit to them in the way they approached that game and the way they made it difficult for us.”

St. Louis took advantage of the hard-charging Tulsa players by applying pressure early and often whenever Tulsa touched the ball. Eventually the game would break in CITY’s favor.

“I think that comes with just our core of our team,” Mykhi Joyner said. “We always want to be aggressive, and we want to be on the front foot of the defense. Just trying to be more aggressive than them and then take the ball in their final third and punish them.”

Sang-Bin Jeong used fancy footwork to dribble through the Tulsa defense in the 20th minute. Getting near the touch line and leaving more than a few Tulsa defenders wondering if their shoes were untied. Sang-Bin put the ball into the box where it went from Tomas Totland to the feet of a wide-open Marcel Hartel.

Hartel drove it into the upper 90 to give CITY a lead that would never be challenged.

As the first half rolled on, St. Louis would score one of the more unique goals in its young history. St. Louis CITY keeper Roman Bürki played a deep long ball forward. It looped across the field clearing the Tulsa line, the ball then took a large bounce and found the head of Sang-Bin who put it over FC Tulsa keeper Dane Jacomen.

It was the soccer equivalent of a “Hail Mary” pass in football.

“This was actually planned,” Hartel said. “We knew that they play man-to-man and when we saw in the buildup that they are coming man-to-man, that we attract them with eight guys a bit deeper and then Roman shoots it behind the line. It worked perfectly.”

Oddly enough this marked the second time in two days a St. Louis netminder assisted on a goal. St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington had an assist in a 7-5 victory the night before in the NHL.

St. Louis didn’t let off the gas heading into the half. In the first minute of first half stoppage time Hartel put a shot off the post.

Coming out of the break, CITY picked up where they left off. Forcing FC Tulsa goalkeeper Jacomen to make a diving save, the momentum from which almost carried him with the ball into the back of the net. An embarrassing goal was avoided when Jacomen kept the ball in front of the line and pushed it out to a friendly player.

St. Louis would not be denied additional goals. In the 61st minute, Joyner and Hartel lined up over a free kick for CITY. Joyner stepped up and drove a clean strike around the wall for the third goal of the game. It would have been a safe bet to assume that veteran player Hartel would take the shot, but a last second decision meant that the young Joyner got a chance.

“I was very confident to shoot from this position,” said Hartel. “Then I laid the ball on the ground, and I saw the goalkeeper was cheating a bit too much in my opinion. And then Mykhi (Joyner) asked me to shoot.”

“I saw the wall kind of tucked over a little too far and the goalie’s placement as well. I kinda saw his feet to the left more, the goalie’s left, so I asked ,” added Joyner.

A game that started off quite physical got even more so as the CITY lead grew and Tulsa felt the walls closing in on them. In the 65th minute, Lucas Stauffer dug the Tulsa hole deeper when he was shown a straight red after he pulled a CITY player down by the jersey in a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

The final nail in the coffin would come from Tomáš Ostrák, who struck an absolute rocket from well outside the penalty area to give St. Louis their fourth and final goal. It was Ostrák’s first game back with CITY after suffering an injury in the preseason.

“It was awesome. I was very happy that I received a chance from the coach. It was big privilege to jump in this game. I am very happy that I scored my first goal and that I helped my team advance to the next round,” said Ostrák.

As the end of the game drew near and the result was not in doubt the fans could smell blood in the water. In the 85th minute, a chant of “We want tacos” rang out from the supporter section. The chant is a reference to a partnership the St. Louis Blues have with local bar Hotshots, wherein if the Blues score five goals tacos cost only one dollar the next day. This marked the second soccer/hockey crossover of the evening.

While the fans didn’t get a fifth goal and the subsequent discount tacos, they did get a shout out from coach Damet after the game. Because of an incoming severe weather alert, CITY was not able to do their tradition of walking around the stadium and clapping for the fans.

“I just wanted to mention the fans tonight, thank the fans that came out tonight for the game. It was great to see a lot of them out and supporting the team. We didn’t get a chance to do a round on the pitch because of the weather,” Damet said.

In what could be seen as a statement of intent, St. Louis CITY SC sent out a lineup consisting of primarily regular players. They also notably started their primary keeper Burki as opposed to backup Ben Lundt, who has served as an Open Cup keeper for CITY in years past. With a resounding win and lineup that showed their resolve CITY looks to make a deep run in the Open Cup this year.

“We want to show that we take it serious, that we want to go to the next round. It’s five games to win, to get a trophy and today was the first step,” said Hartel.

St. Louis will get a chance to prove their seriousness in two weeks when they travel north on I-55 to the “Windy City” and take on the Chicago Fire in the Round of 16.