St. Louis CITY SC heads to SeatGeek Stadium on Wednesday night to face Chicago Fire FC in the Round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup, a rematch that sends one of the league’s sharper recent attacks into a knockout game with no margin for error. The match will stream live on CBS Sports Plus and Paramount+.
St. Louis arrives after a 3-2 home loss to the San Jose Earthquakes last Saturday, a game that still offered reasons for optimism. Sergio Córdova scored his first goal for CITY SC, Marcel Hartel added his team-leading third of the season, and Hartel and Chris Durkin each recorded their first assists of 2026. Simon Becher also scored his second goal of the campaign. That came after St. Louis opened its Open Cup run with a 4-0 win over FC Tulsa on April 15, when Hartel, Sangbin Jeong, Mykhi Joyner and Tomás Ostrák all scored. Hartel and Jeong each posted their second career Open Cup goals, Joyner and Ostrák netted their first in the competition, and Tomas Totland, Roman Bürki and Dante Polvara collected their first career Open Cup assists. Bürki also earned his first shutout in all competitions in 2026.
Chicago took a different path into the Round of 16, starting its 2026 Open Cup campaign in the Round of 32 on the road against USL Championship side Detroit City FC and winning 2-1 behind both goals from Jason Shokalook. The Fire have carried that form back into league play. They sit third in the MLS Eastern Conference at 5-2-3 with 17 points and just beat Sporting Kansas City 5-0 over the weekend. Hugo Cuypers leads the club with eight goals, while Philip Zinckernagel and Maren Haile-Selassie are tied for the team lead with three assists apiece.
The matchup also brings back a familiar Open Cup memory. St. Louis and Chicago met in the 2023 Round of 32 at SeatGeek Stadium, and the Fire won 2-1. St. Louis City SC’s U.S. Open Cup history stretches back more than 100 years and includes 10 championships, but the present test is simpler: survive Wednesday night against a Chicago side that is scoring freely and has already shown it can handle knockout pressure. The winner moves on with a chance to keep a Cup run alive that has already given both clubs a clear sense of where they stand.