Despite another early exit, the Philadelphia Union brought back some U.S. Open Cup magic last night

The bigger picture may be that the Philadelphia Union crashed out of their second knockout competition in a week but on a micro level their penalty kick defeat to Minnesota United brought back some of the magic and fun of the U.S. Open Cup if only for a brief period of time.

After a ho hum loss to the eventual champions Orlando City last year, a heavily-rotated squad looked like it might suffer another run of the mill one and done exit in front of an empty Allianz Field in Saint Paul on Tuesday night when a Chris Donovan goal cut the lead in half and started a rally Kai Wagner completed with a beauty of a goal at the death.

The hosts grabbed another lead in extra time only for Wagner to fire home a free kick on the last play of extra time to send it to penalties.

Unfortunately Wagner wasn’t able to keep the penalty shootout going when his kick was saved in the eighth round of kicks but the improbability of it going that far lessened the blow in the end. The pessimist could call it another example of the Union setting fans up for another heartbreak but given the fixture congestion a win wasn’t necessarily expected and could not be the worst thing to happen to the team long term as they now focus on climbing the standings.

“It’s our 17th game already,” head coach Jim Curtin said post-game. “We’re in early May, which is half of a usual season. So yeah, we’re trying to navigate it as best we can. We pushed hard tonight, came up a little bit short, but certainly, you know, your approach is different. And you can see by the lineups that got put out throughout the rest of the league, whether you’re home, whether you’re away, whether you’re in form, whether you’re out a form, or trying to chase form, whatever it might be, everybody’s going to have a different approach. We went for it tonight. We didn’t get it done.”

The early exit is the third straight for the Union, which hasn’t won an Open Cup game since the 2018 semifinal at home. The competition wasn’t held in 2020 or 2021. It’s the fourth straight road game in Open Cup play.

“We’ve been on the road quite a bit, we get kind of the short end of the straw and draw coming to Minnesota, cost the club a ton of money as well with the charter flight and that kind of thing,” Curtin said. “Some things add up and make it harder, for sure. But I still think we went on the field and had a good approach.”

The U.S. Open Cup used to be the great hope of a club struggling to make the playoffs but even as the team has moved to the top tier of the league it’s become another illusive trophy. The Union have lost three Open Cup finals, two Champions League semifinals and an MLS Cup final. They’ll have another chance at a trophy with the Leagues Cup in July.

Though it hardly has the allure of the oldest competition in the U.S. it brings with it another chance to win hardware before the season ends.

Maybe some of that cup magic that came out in Saint Paul will return back at home as they look to knock off two Liga MX teams in their home stadium and push toward the knockouts.

Until then, finding their form in league play and relying less on PKs or keeper mistakes to win games will be the balm this fanbase needs right now to believe what everyone told them was their destiny this season: getting back to an MLS Cup final.