It was a moment St. Louis City fans will not soon forget. The sight of Daniel Edelman waving his shirt above his head at a full sprint heading towards the few-thousand City fans in the away end of ScottsMiracle-Gro Field after dispatching the U.S. Open Cup-winning penalty will certainly live long in the memory. But in Columbus on Wednesday, we were treated to a game of soccer that meant much more than the 90 minutes plus extra-time.

Before we really dig into a historic night for St. Louis City, a night in which they won their first ever major trophy in dramatic fashion, we have to rewind a few years to paint the picture of how we got here. MLS, it’s clubs and their fans, and the US Open Cup have had a bumpy few years, to say the least.

In December 2023, the league announced it would not enter its senior teams in the 2024 edition of the tournament and would instead send its Next PRO development sides instead. MLS cited player development, health and safety, and a crowded calendar as the justification. Yet the league’s own Leagues Cup with Liga MX, a monthlong midseason event it controls and profits from, was widely seen as the real source of the congestion, and the Open Cup had stopped being much of a money-maker.

U.S. Soccer pushed back, and for a while the 2024 tournament looked like it might not happen at all. Open Cup committee chairman Arthur Matteson resigned, and the USL, whose clubs had long used the competition to test themselves against top-flight opponents, voiced its frustration. Eventually a compromise emerged, with just eight MLS teams taking part, though many felt that was still not enough. Some supporters’ groups responded by boycotting Leagues Cup activities in protest.

Since then, MLS has been working its way back into the tournament, much to the delight of the thousands of Americans who cherish the 113-year-old tournament. By 2025 more clubs were playing, and Nashville SC won the title. In 2026, 16 MLS clubs entered an 80-team field, though teams in the Concacaf Champions Cup or Leagues Cup were left out. Looking ahead, reports suggest that all 27 US-based MLS clubs will return in 2027 under a revamped format.

That brings us back to Wednesday’s affair in Columbus and why it felt like an extra-special night for those who have stuck by the US Open Cup in the years where its very existence seemed to be under major threat. Columbus provided us a venue, an atmosphere, and a spectacle worthy of such a prestigious competition.

More than 20,000 fans packed out ScottsMiracle-Gro Field on a Wednesday night, a few-thousand of them coming from St. Louis to give the eventual winners backing of their own more than 400 miles from home. So often U.S. Open Cup matches can be lacking atmosphere, lacking fan participation for a variety of reasons, but this cup final was a true cup final.

Somehow, Columbus were unable to find a way through their visitors despite peppering them with 15 shots and a few periods of pressure that seemed for all the world to be set to produce the opening goal. But St. Louis held on, regained control, and eventually won the penalty shootout to claim their first major honor.

While it may be the culmination of a stunning summer and early-autumn in which St. Louis set a new record for an MLS club with a 21-match unbeaten run in all competitions, they still have MLS Cup Playoffs to come, so this Open Cup triumph could prove to be the start of a truly special few months for the young midwest club. Head coach Yoan Damet, along with some shrewd summer transfer business, has transformed St. Louis into a tactically adept, hard-to-beat team with a sprinkle of stardust where necessary.

In terms of the competition itself, however, one can only hope it’s an example that more fans, clubs, and organizations can point to as U.S. Soccer looks to rebuild the Open Cup into a competition that can never again have its merit doubted.