Ashle Lynn Paige

Austin FC and a good amount of fans traveled to St. Paul to take on Minnesota United FC on Wednesday night for the clubs’ third meeting of 2025 across all competitions. The North Star State vs. the Lone Star State clash determined who would advance and host the 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final.

Austin took the lead in first half stoppage time, holding it until Minnesota United leveled the match with a spectacular free kick in the 67th minute. The chippy and foul-riddled match headed to extra time where Austin scored at the death of the second extra time period to send Los Verdes to their first ever Open Cup championship game.

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In the 110-year history of the tournament, Austin becomes just the fourth team from South Texas (9th from Texas overall) to reach the US Open Cup Final. Over the last eight years, four of those title games have featured a team from the Lone Star State (FC Dallas in 2016, Houston Dynamo in 2018 and 2023, Austin FC in 2025). The last three times a Texas team has reached the Final, they have won.

With each side coming off a league match just days prior, there were some changes made to each team’s starting eleven. Austin FC made six changes from their loss to FC Dallas the previous weekend. Minnesota United made just three changes, retaining most of the eleven starters that defeated San Diego 3–1 on the prior Saturday night. For the Loons, the biggest missing piece was Canadian international Tani Oluwaseyi who was sold to Spanish top flight side Villarreal late during the previous transfer window.

The opening 45 minutes of play were pretty low key compared to what the match became. Twenty-five minutes into the match Osman Bukari was issued the first yellow, and what by the laws of the game is a red card, for kicking Anthony Markanich away from the run of play. Shortly after Kelvin Yeboah took a wild bump, where no foul or card was issued, that ended with him being subbed off for Joseph Rosales. 

“I’m not sure of the severity of it,” said Minnesota United manager Eric Ramsay on Yeboah’s injury. “It wasn’t obviously so serious that he  immediately had to remove himself from the pitch – he felt like he could give it another go. So, by the time we get the imaging tomorrow we will have a good idea.”

Neither side was able to mount a real chance to score during most of the first half. None of Minnesota’s six shots went on target, at least one of which probably came closer to hitting the local Target store than going into the back of goal.

Austin struggled just as much in the opening frame, snagging five shots through the first half and until stoppage time. None of the shots really made MNUFC goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair work and it appeared that the match would head to the break at a 0-0 draw.

That all changed right as the clock passed the minimum stoppage time of three minutes. Owen Wolff sent a long ball into Austin’s attacking third that was picked up by Osman Bukari, who broke out cleanly down the right side. Bukari sent a dribbler of a shot from twelve yards out, that slipped through the legs and hands of Dayne St. Clair and slowly rolled its way across the goal line despite a Minnesota defender’s attempt to save it. Austin FC would enter the halftime break with a 1-0 lead.

The second half then seemed to become a totally different match. After managing six first half shots, the Loons came roaring into and through the second half of play. Snapping 13 shots compared to just three for Austin, in what was an extremely chippy half where 17 fouls were called with only a single yellow card being shown.

Twenty-two minutes into the second half, Minnesota United had finally put themselves on the board when Joaquín Pereyra curled a banger of a free kick around the defensive wall to score for the hosts. It was his first career US Open Cup goal for the designated player from Argentina.

While Minnesota continued to control and dominate the remainder of the half, the Loons were still unable to get another big chance to score, setting the match up for extra time. The first half of extra time was played with little gusto on the part of either side. Only two shots and two fouls happened during 15 minutes that looked more like the match from the Simpsons than it did a cup semifinal. 

The second half of extra time was a different feeling altogether, now looking like two sides fighting and scrapping for a spot in a championship. Every foul called in the final 15 minutes was on Minnesota and four of the six shots came from Austin. With the 120th minute approaching, it appeared certain this would continue on into penalties. But in the final minute, Austin changed that and sent themselves to the USOC final. After Dayne St. Clair parried away a shot from Myrto Uzuni, CJ Fodrey sent the rebound past Dayne St. Clair and straight into the goal.

“I think we set up a good tactical setup where we minimized their strength,” said Austin FC manager Nico Estévez. “The important thing against them is not being defending all the time and that you have opportunities to go forward and put them in difficult situations.”

After securing the victory, Austin FC went over to the northeast corner of Allianz Field to celebrate with the more than 150 fans that traveled more than 1,000 miles north for a Wednesday night match.

Austin FC will host the 110th US Open Cup Final at Q2 Stadium on October 1 where they will face Nashville SC, who defeated the Philadelphia Union 3-1 on Tuesday night to punch their ticket to the title game.