Union Omaha forward, Josué Gómez (21), gets taken down by St. Louis CITY defender, Timo Baumgartl (32), and midfielder, Tomas Ostrak (7), in the first half of the U.S. Open Cup, round of 32, match on May 7, 2025 at Energizer Park. St. Louis CITY defeated Union Omaha, 2-0, to advance to the round of 16. (Source: West Newsmagazine/Lyle Whitworth photo)

St. Louis punched their ticket to the next round of the U.S. Open Soccer tournament with a 2-0 shutout victory over Union Omaha of the USL League 1 Division. However, they had to score twice late in the match to put the game out of reach. The team dominated possession of the ball and took ten shots, three from the opponent, but they could not put the ball in the back of the net. Union Omaha had their chances to steal a lead in the match when former CITY 2 Max Schneider gave his team a chance on a corner kick against his former organization. Meanwhile, the injury bug continues to hit CITY SC when Alfredo Morales went down in the 42nd minute with a non-contact injury. Conrad Wallem replaced Morales and played the rest of the game.

St. Louis finally got on the board on the 68th minute when, after three failed attempts, Joey Zalinsky, St. Louis’s fullback draft choice in this year’s MLS SuperDraft, put the ball in the back of the net with his right foot. The goal by Zalinsky’s first goal for the team put his team up 1-0. It appeared CITY SC were in control of the match, but Union Omaha had several chances to even the score in the 70th minute and the 79th when Mehdi Ouamri made a spectacular bicycle kick that CITY SC goalkeeper Ben Lundt made a brilliant save. It was time for veteran João Klauss to finally put the game out of reach in the 87th minute when, on a fast break, Cedric Teuchert drove forward down the middle and passed to Klauss on the left, who came on for Simon Becher. The forward grasped it, shot with his right foot, and placed it into the bottom right corner. While it wasn’t a Major League Soccer regular season match the 2-0 for CITY SC ended a 6-game winless streak, and the team will move on to the next round to face Minnesota United on May 21 for the Round of 16. Their next Major League Soccer match is Saturday Night at Energize Park against San Diego FC.