An early goal, a Markanich brace, and a come from behind win send MNUFC to the USOC Quarterfinals

Minnesota United FC faced off with St. Louis City SC for the second time in less than five days, but this time it was in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup’s Round of 16 rather than MLS play. After an early 10th minute goal from MNUFC the Loons were cruising for the remainder of the first half. But the second half was a different story, as within 20 minutes the script flipped and it was the Loons down by a goal. The showdown ended in story book fashion for the 3,325 fans at Allianz Field as Anthony Markanich scored two goals within three minutes to send Minnesota back to the USOC quarter-finals for the first time since 2019.

Minnesota United and St. Louis City headed into their Open Cup showdown with two different philosophies on lineups. The Loons made some heavy rotation to theirs, bringing on seven new players and retaining just four from Minnesota’s 3-0 win over St. Louis City just days prior. The visitors from Missouri did the opposite, bringing on just three new names and retaining a whopping total of eight players from their loss.

Match 🧵 | #MINvSTL USOC StyleStarting XI for both #MNUFC and #STLCity. Loons making seven changes this evening, retaining Romero, Markanich, Harvey, and Hlongwane from Saturday's lineup.St. Louis retaining eight of eleven from Saturday night. Durkin, Klauss, and Horn are the three new players

— Northland Soccer Journal (@northlandsoccer.com) 2025-05-21T23:16:30.434Z

Minnesota United started the match on fire and it paid off early for the Loons. Just ten minutes into the match Julian Gressel whipped a cross into the box, where a waiting Kelvin Yeboah finished off the play with a cheeky backheel to put Minnesota up 1-0.

Found the Gateway to the West

— Minnesota United FC (@mnufc.com) 2025-05-21T23:54:25.809899Z

The remainder of the first half stayed as it started with the Loons dominating the first forty-five minutes in everything but possession. While the total shots were even at six-a-piece entering the break, MNUFC had all four shots on target to that pointing, holding St. Louis down to a goose egg in that category.

Though that did not last long as ten minutes into the second half as St. Louis City’s Marcel Hartel leveled the match a one all on a cross sent in from Timo Baumgartl.

Back in it! C'mon, Boyz!! 👏 📺 Paramount+

— St Louis CITY SC (@stlcitysc.com) 2025-05-22T00:57:38.971Z

Eleven minutes after their match tying goal City struck again to take a 2-1 lead. This time the goal came from João Klauss after a whipped cross into the box from previous goal scorer Marcel Hartel. From there on it was clear that St. Louis had control of the match and showed themselves poised to win and get their first victory over an MLS opponent since March. But the Loons showed gusto and ultimately Anthony Markanich scored a match tying goal in the 85th minute of the match to level the score at two each.

With the match looking as if it were heading to extra time, both teams who by then were running on fumes, turned on the burners to try and score on last goal to prevent the match from going another 30 minutes. It was MNUFC who got the first opportunity at another goal with a shot from Tani Oluwaseyi beating goalkeeper Roman Bürki, but ultimately being kicked out and blocked just inches short of a goal by defender Joshua Yaro.

On the ensuing corner kick sent in from Joaquín Pereyra, Anthony Markanich struck a beautiful header to notch the game winning goal for the Loons and send them on to the USOC Quarterfinals.

HE CAN'T BE STOPPED87' | 3-2 | #MNUFC

— Minnesota United FC (@mnufc.com) 2025-05-22T01:23:31.315473Z

With the win the Loons maintain 4-1-0 in their last five matches in all competitions. The Quarterfinal US Open Cup draw will be done on Thursday 22-May with the matches set to be played on either the 8th or 9th of July. MNUFC continues their 2025 MLS campaign with another home match this Saturday, 24-May with their second and final clash of the season with Austin FC. Kickoff time is set for 7:30pm at Allianz Field and will air on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.