Long before MLS, St. Louis ruled the U.S. Open Cup: Gateway to the West's latest club wants to add a chapter

A showdown with the Columbus Crew gives St. Louis City SC a chance to end a 38-year championship drought for a soccer hotbed Soccer in America is truly a sport where you stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, and few places know that like St. Louis, as St. Louis City SC prepare for the first Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final in their history as they'll face the Columbus Crew on Wednesday (live on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network, 8 p.m. ET). But while many may have never expected a day that an MLS side would be in the Open Cup final from the area, the greater St.

Louis area has a rich history in the competition, with the last team winning the competition being the Busch Seniors, who triumphed in 1988 after St. Louis' first final in 1920. "As long as St. Louis did not have an MLS team, no," Jeff Robben said when asked if he ever saw a St. Louis team making the Open Cup final after his Busch Seniors, where he played goalkeeper. "Once the USL teams started competing, and then the MLS teams started competing for the Open Cup, how my Busch Seniors team accomplished what they did, that was just not gonna happen again. As a matter of fact, there