ST. LOUIS (May 19, 2026) – Houston Dynamo FC fell in penalties after earning a 2-2 draw with St. Louis CITY SC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal on Tuesday night. Houston, despite being reduced to ten men in extra time, fought to push the match to spot kicks, and outshot St. Louis by a 11-4 margin over the course of 120 minutes.
St. Louis took the lead in the 10th minute when Marcel Hartel found the back of the net with a left-footed shot from inside the box.
The Dynamo leveled the match just two minutes later after attacking midfielder Mateusz Bogusz capitalized on a St. Louis mistake by forcing CITY’s goalkeeper Roman Bürki into a bad touch, allowing the 24-year-old to retrieve the ball and find the back of the net with ease for his second goal of the tournament.
Captain and midfielder Artur then gave Houston the lead in the 42nd minute with a long-range effort from 30 yards out, following a pass from midfielder Jack McGlynn. The play marked the Brazilian’s first goal of the year and the American’s first assist of the tournament.
St. Louis would equalize early in the second half. Defender Agustin Resch was judged by the referee to have pulled an attacker down in the box, putting CITY at the spot. Hartel stepped up to the mark and shot to the left past a diving Jonathan Bond for his second goal of the match and a 2-2 score.
Houston’s first shot on target came a couple seconds before the team’s first goal of the match, with forward Lawrence Ennali dribbling into the box and finding McGlynn in front of goal for a left-footed strike towards the bottom right corner that forced a diving save from Bürki.
In the dying moments of regular time, a terrific free kick strike from attacker Guilherme nearly put things out of reach. His right-footed hit from about 25 yards out struck iron, rattling the post and deflecting out for a St. Louis goal kick. One minute later, Ennali was through on-goal and fired, but was denied by a diving stop by St. Louis goalkeeper Benjamin Lundt.
In the second half of extra time, Ennali was judged to have taken down an attacker just outside the Dynamo box, earning the German a second yellow and reducing Houston to ten men for the rest of the match.
The two sides remained level after 120 minutes and would need penalties to decide who would advance to the semifinal.
In the shootout, Eduard Löwen converted the first penalty for St. Louis, shooting to the right and wrong-footing Bond. Guilherme was up first for Houston, and his low penalty was saved by Lundt, putting Houston behind in the first round. Hartel converted on the second kick for CITY, with Lingr answering with a blast of his own down the middle to keep Houston within striking distance.
Timo Baumgaurtl roofed the next one for St. Louis, and again Houston fought back – this time through Duane Holmes, who blasted to the left and past Lundt. Christopher Durkin was up next for CITY, as he converted the fourth kick. Hector Herrera had the final kick for Houston, and was denied by Lundt, as St. Louis advanced to the semifinal.
