The home teams all advanced in the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Quarterfinals. Of the four teams that advanced to the Semifinals, none of them have won multiple US Open Cup titles, and two of them have never lifted the trophy at all.
On Tuesday, Orlando City dominated rival Atlanta United with four goals in the first half helping the 2022 US Open Cup champs move on. St. Louis CITY SC needed penalty kicks to eliminate the Houston Dynamo to punch their ticket to the Semis for the first time in club’s limited history.
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Wednesday saw a pair of shutouts with the Columbus Crew holding off New York City FC, and the Colorado Rapids returning to the final four for the first time in 27 years with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.
For fans of the tournament, they will have to exercise some patience because the Semifinals will not take place until the week of Sept. 15-16 because the competition will take a break with the United States co-hosting the FIFA World Cup this summer.
When those Semifinal games take place, the Colorado Rapids will host St. Louis CITY in a battle of teams seeking their first Open Cup title. In the other game, the Columbus Crew will host Orlando City SC with each team seeking a second tournament championship. The winner of Columbus and Orlando will host the 111th US Open Cup Final on Oct. 21.
Below you will find a brief summary of each game with links to the full game recap and video highlights.
TUESDAY, MAY 19
Orlando City SC (MLS)
4:1
Atlanta United FC (MLS)
Inter&Co Stadium – Orlando, FL
By: Connor Bunnell
The quarterfinals opened on a laugher of a rivalry match, as Orlando City demolished Atlanta United.
The two teams had played to a 1-1 regular season draw in the same stadium just four days prior, but this second verse was not the same as the first. City looked like absolute world-beaters in the first half, starting their rampage in the 5th when David Brekalo headed home a cross from Braian Ojeda. Eleven minutes later, Iván Angulo lured Atlanta keeper Jayden Hibbert all the way to one side of the net, then dished to Griffin Dorsey on the other side. Dorsey easily tapped it in for his second goal of this tournament and his third consecutive game with a goal overall.
Hibbert would add to his own misery eight minutes after that by making a terrible clearance that effectively just fed the ball to Orlando’s Tiago Souza. The Brazilian then sent Hibbert diving the wrong way to extend the Lions’ lead. Orlando still weren’t satisfied, getting two additional phantom goals that were ruled offside before finally making it four in first-half stoppage time when Ojeda found Souza, giving the former two assists and the latter two goals.
Emmanuel Latte Lath did eventually deny a clean sheet, scoring in the 84th, but the much quieter second half did nothing to change the outcome. Orlando are now back to the Open Cup semis for the first time since 2022, the year they won it all, and whoever they face there, they’ll have Atlético de Madrid icon Antoine Griezmann in their corner.
[+] FULL MATCH REPORT (with video highlights)
St. Louis CITY SC (MLS)
2:2
Houston Dynamo FC (MLS)
St. Louis CITY SC advances, 4-2 on penalty kicks
Energizer Park – St. Louis, MO
By: Tim Abbott
A wild opening 11 minutes saw a goal for each side. First it was Marcel Hartel for the hosts but almost immediately, Mateusz Bogusz equalized as CITY captain and keeper Roman Bürki slipped and gave away the ball in his penalty area. With only 26 minutes played, Bürki was forced to leave the field of play as a result of his slip, with Ben Lundt taking over. Lundt has 13 MLS games in his entire career.
In the 50th minute, Agustin Resch took all of Sergio Cordova in the penalty area and Hartel scored the resulting penalty kick. Neither side could gather a go-ahead in the rest of regulation, although Becher missed a golden assist opportunity when he decided to shoot instead of passing to Sang Bin.
Guilherme nearly scored in the opening five minutes of ET, but he could not complete. His corner then went out of play. In the 102nd minute, Artur’s curler was palmed wide by Lundt. Dante Pulvara extinguished a Linger chance with a chase back block on his shot with virtually the last touch of the first half of ET.
With nothing much changing, the balance of numbers tipped the way of STL, as Lawrence Ennali was shown a second yellow card which looked very reviewable – but this is pretty much the last game where second yellows are not reviewable by VAR.
Nonetheless, the game was eventually settled from the spot, with St Louis CITY’s Lundt saving two of the four kicks aimed his way in the shootout.
[+] FULL MATCH REPORT (with video highlights)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20
Columbus Crew SC (MLS)
1:0
New York City FC (MLS)
ScottsMiracle-Gro Field – Columbus, OH
By: Ashle Paige
Wednesday night two clubs on completely different trajectories met for a spot in the Open Cup Semi-Finals. The visitors in New York City FC were eyeing their first appearance in that round and were 3-1-1 in their last five. Columbus Crew on the other hand only had three league wins in fourteen matches and recently dismissed their manager. One goal from the hosts put the Crew over the top and sent them to their first semi-finals in a decade and a half.
A relatively dull first 40 minutes gave way to a Columbus dominated final half plus the end of the first half. In that span Columbus Crew outshot New York City FC 11 to 3 in the final fifty minutes of football. Sometimes a single goal can change the match and the Crew were the side able to score. With the clock ticking closer to the hour mark Columbus was able to break out from their own end with a pass to Nariman Akhundzada at midfield. The 22 year old whipped a through ball downfield to the left side that Max Arfsten picked up and took into the box. Just a step or two into the eighteen Arfsten fired a shot into the bottom corner to score the first goal of the evening.
The single 59th minute goal from Arfsten ended up being the only goal of the match. New York City FC only managed only two more shots through the remainder of the night, both of which were blocked and the visitors finished with five shots on the night. Columbus who just recently sacked Henrik Rydström following five wins in their first sixteen matches won their first match under the helm of caretaker manager Laurent Courtois in his first match in charge.
[+] FULL MATCH REPORT (with video highlights)
Colorado Rapids (MLS)
2:0
San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)
DICK’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, CO
By: Andrew Mosier
For the first time since 1999, the Colorado Rapids advanced to the semifinal round of the U.S. Open Cup with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Wednesday Night.
Darren Yappi and Rafael Navarro scored goals in the waning minutes of the first half to put the Rapids through to host Saint Louis City SC in the semifinal round September 15 or 16.
In the 22nd minute after San Jose failed to fully clear a Paxten Aaronson free kick, Josh Atencio ran down the ball on the left wing and found Rafael Navarro at the far post. Navarro pushed the ball past the flailing Daniel at the far post. The goal was disallowed when Rob Holding was ruled offside on the initial free kick—without directly being involved with play—nullifying the goal. Unlike earlier Open Cup rounds, VAR was implemented in the quarterfinal round.
With five minutes to play in the first half Darren Yappi banged in a goal that VAR could not take away off a Dante Sealy that began with a short corner. Yappi did everything he needed to connect with Sealy’s driven cross a yard from goal. The goal was Yappi’s first in Open Cup play.
VAR reared its ugly head again eight minutes into first half added time when Bazakos whistled San Jose defender Reid Roberts for an awkward handling of the ball. Bazakos awarded the free kick just outside of the penalty area. But a closer look had Roberts handling the ball inside the penalty area. After a long look, Bazakos awarded the Rapids a penalty kick. Rafael Navarro took the ball and stood on the penalty spot while San Jose made the requisite protests, slotting his shot to Daniel’s right to put the Rapids up 2-0 ten minutes into second half added time.