St. Louis CITY SC won the first trophy in its young club history Wednesday, but the celebration came only after a frightening scene: longtime goalkeeper Roman Bürki was stretchered off the field with a head injury during the U.S. Open Cup final against the Columbus Crew. Backup goalkeeper Ben Lundt stepped in and delivered the saving moment that sealed the title.
Bürki went down after a collision with Crew winger Anass Zaroury, whose knee struck the goalkeeper's head as Bürki attempted to save a shot, according to ESPN. He remained down to receive medical attention on the pitch before being carried off on a stretcher. As reported by USA Today, Bürki was down motionless for several minutes during treatment, then waved and gave a thumbs up to the crowd as he was taken away.
Exact timing of the collision is in dispute: ESPN and a German report place it in the 70th minute, while other accounts, including the club's own match report, say Bürki was replaced in the 78th minute. The match remained scoreless at the time of the substitution. Broadcaster Hailey Sutton said on the call, per USA Today's reporting, that Bürki was being transported to the hospital and was conscious with movement in all extremities — a detail ESPN corroborated, reporting that Bürki was conscious and moving all extremities on his way to the hospital.
Lundt Steps In and Delivers
Ben Lundt entered in relief of Bürki and immediately made his presence felt once the match reached penalties. After 120 minutes of scoreless regulation and extra time, St. Louis CITY SC prevailed in the shootout, according to the club's match report, which put the final score at 5-3. Lundt saved Columbus' first shootout attempt, taken by Santiago Rodríguez, setting the tone for the win.
Not every outlet agrees on the final shootout tally. The Guardian reported that St. Louis won 5-4 on penalties, a figure that conflicts with the 5-3 score given by the club and other outlets. Either way, the result delivered what the club's own report called the first U.S. Open Cup title and the first trophy in St. Louis CITY SC's history.
A Veteran Captain and a Franchise Milestone
Bürki, 35, signed with St. Louis before its 2023 expansion season and has served as captain in all four of his campaigns with the club, per USA Today's reporting. Before arriving in MLS, he spent seven seasons with Borussia Dortmund. His absence for the shootout left the club's title moment in the hands of his backup, even as the result delivered a milestone decades in the making for the city.
The win ended a long wait for an MLS club to lift the Open Cup in St. Louis, with the most recent local triumph coming in 1988 when the Busch Seniors won it, according to CBS Sports. The same report notes that St. Louis had already won the Open Cup 10 times between 1920 and 1988, making the city's soccer history among the deepest in the country. It was also just the fourth U.S. Open Cup final in the MLS era, dating to 1996, decided by a penalty shootout, and the first since Sporting Kansas City beat the Philadelphia Union in 2015, according to The Athletic. The same outlet noted the final capped a stretch in which St. Louis City's MLS-record 21-game unbeaten run across all competitions had been snapped the weekend before the final.
What the Rules Say About Head Injuries
Soccer's lawmaking body, The IFAB, permits competitions to allow an additional permanent concussion substitution for a player with an actual or suspected concussion, a substitution that does not count against a team's normal substitution limit. Each team may use a maximum of one such substitute per match, and under the protocol a player removed through a concussion substitution cannot return to the match in any capacity, including a penalty shootout. Major League Soccer's own competition guidance similarly allows clubs to make one permanent concussion substitution for a player with a concussion or suspected head injury, with such cases managed under the league's head-injury protocols, according to Major League Soccer.
