2026 US Open Cup Final: Ben Lundt of St. Louis CITY SC voted TheCup.us Player of Round

A performance in which he came off the bench to save the day for St. Louis CITY SC in the most important game thus far in the young franchise’s history has earned Ben Lundt TheCup.us Player of the Round honors for the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final. Lundt’s heroics helped him to easily clear teammates Daniel Edelman and Timo Baumgartel in the voting.

TheCup.us Player of the Round is voted on by TheCup.us staff, a select panel from the North American Soccer Reporters and select backers (those that pledge $10 or more) from TheCup.us’ Patreon team.

This is the second year in a row in which a goalkeeper has won Player of the Round honors for the Final, last season Brian Schwake won it for his performance propelling Nashville SC to the title. Lundt is also just the fifth goalkeeper to win a Player of the Round award for the championship game all-time (since 2006). 

He is just the third German player to win Player of the Round for any round. Joining teammate Marcel Hartel who won this year’s award in the Quarterfinals and Patrick Rakovsky who won Player of the Round for the Third Round in 2025.

At the time Rakovsky was playing for Phoenix Rising, who Lundt had played for just the year prior. Perhaps then the secret for German players who want to win a Player of the Round award is to play for a team Ben Lundt has played for.

Lundt was called on in the 78^th minute when starting goalkeeper and team captain Roman Burki went down with a concussion. Burki sustained the injury after a collision with Columbus Crew’s Anass Zaroury.

Burki made a sliding save and Zaroury attempted to leap over the diving keeper. Instead Zaroury kicked Burki in the head. This led to a tense ten minutes where Burki was treated on the field before eventually being carted off and taken to the hospital.

“I think it’s the worst possible scenario to come into the game like this,” Lundt said after the match. “When you see your friend, the captain of our team, coming out on a stretcher.”

Lundt came in and went the remainder of the game and the additional thirty minutes of added extra time without facing a shot. That meant penalty kicks. St. Louis CITY’s chances of winning the first major trophy in club history would rest on Lundt’s shoulders.

The big man, Lundt is listed at a towering 6’ 6”, came up big when his team needed him most. On the very first penalty kick he faced Lundt made a save. Diving to his left to paw away a strike by Columbus’ Santiago Rodriguez.

It was all that would be required, though he almost made a second save getting a fingertip on Andrés Herrera’s attempt. His teammates all converted their kicks with aplomb and CITY had its first title.

“I’m a little bit mad that I didn’t make two (saves). I said it before, I like penalties. I’ve always been good at them throughout my career, I believe in what I can do,” said Lundt. “I do a lot of homework before the game even starts. We did a lot of homework in Colorado it didn’t come to it, so I’m ready. That’s credit to the staff as well. We’re looking for like little changes in run up, in hips, in this and that.”

While he may have been the hero who came off the bench and saved the day. In his post-game comments Lundt was effusive in his praise of the complete team effort it takes to win a championship.

“We had twenty-six guys involved with this trophy and that’s something special. It’s not only eleven guys. It’s been twenty-six and that’s really what makes us strong this year. I think that everyone can see that throughout our games everybody is important, it doesn’t matter what role you play. Credit to the coach to the coaching staff. They’re not just talking and investing into the guys that are playing on the weekend. These guys are putting so much work into absolutely everybody and keeping everybody involved. So, there was no luck tonight. It was supposed to be us tonight.”

This was the first US Open Cup championship for St. Louis CITY SC. But it wasn’t the first in St. Louis history, it was the eleventh title for the gateway city. The first coming in the 1919-20 iteration of the Cup at the hands of Ben Millers and the most recent a 1988 trophy hoisting by Busch Seniors.

While this represents a milestone first leap for CITY SC it is just a step on a path laid out by their forebearers over a century ago. The torch is now theirs to carry forward. Ben Lundt and the rest of the St. Louis faithful must begin their title defense.