The Union were a +410 road dog going into Wednesday night’s Leagues Cup game against the Columbus Crew, and they played like a +410 underdog in a 3-1 loss. Forward Tai Baribo was suspended, Jose Martinez was transferred to Brazil, and the U just didn’t have much juice on the evening. They nicked back a goal on a textbook high press, but were largely outplayed for the majority of the 90 minutes.

Thus ends the seven-game unbeaten streak. They’ll play the third place game on Sunday evening at home, with a chance to qualify for the Champion’s Cup as consolation.

The circumstances for this one are a little different, and they weren’t favored to win following a surprise run of form, but nonetheless this result has to go on the list of big game disappointments in Union franchise history:

  • 2014 U.S. Open Cup final: 3-1 extra time loss (home)
  • 2015 U.S. Open Cup final: 1-1 draw, lost 7-6 on penalty kicks (home)
  • 2018 U.S. Open Cup final: 3-0 loss (road)
  • 2021 Champions League semifinal: 4-0 loss on aggregate (two legs)
  • 2022 MLS Cup: 3-3 draw, lost 3-0 on penalties (road)
  • 2023 Champions League semifinal: 4-1 loss on aggregate (two legs)
  • 2023 Leagues Cup semifinal: 4-1 loss (home)
  • 2024 Leagues Cup semifinal: 3-1 loss (road)

If you break it out, that’s one extra time loss, two draws in which they lost on penalties, two aggregate losses, and two straight-up regulation losses. I don’t count the 2021 Eastern Conference final because they got screwed by COVID, and I don’t count the “MLS is Back” semifinal because who gives a shit about that. Some people have made the case for Peter Nowak playing a brand new formation in the franchise’s first ever playoff game, so that might qualify for the disappointment list. Overall you see a pattern here of the Union reaching the top of the ladder and then the ladder falls over.

While sports betting was not yet legal for some of these games, I am 99% sure they were an underdog in every single one, save for maybe the LAFC 1st leg of the 2023 Champions League semifinal. That was a disappointing 1-1 home draw that led to a 3-0 road defeat in the return leg. Longtime Union fan Barry on Twitter noted that they were a better team than Houston back in 2018, but with that USOC final being played in Texas, it makes me think the oddsmakers may have favored the Dynamo for that reason alone. Or, at best, maybe that game could have been listed as a pick ’em. But I don’t think anyone expected them to beat Seattle in 2014, KC in 2015, Club America in 2021, LAFC in 2022 or 2023, or Miami/Columbus in 2023 and 2024.


So doesn’t this prove the point that we’ve beaten to death in recent years? The Union get there, but don’t have the talent to finish the job. They are a great team, but not a trophy-winning team. If you watched Wednesday night’s loss, you saw Diego Rossi and Cucho Hernandez score all three goals for Columbus. Rossi makes $3.3 million guaranteed and Cucho makes $2.8 million, two numbers higher than the Union’s highest-paid player. But what’s more is that the Crew paid about $16 million in transfer fees to get both players, while the Union’s record transfer fee is $2.8 million. They have never paid more than $3 million in a transfer fee.

The rest of the Columbus team is Union-esque in that it features some solid American players (Nagbe, Schulte) mixed in with great foreign pulls who overachieve for a great coach (Camacho, Farsi, Moreira). They aren’t loaded with superstars front to back. But they do have a pair of DPs who provide so much for them, and make shit happen in the big games. The Union don’t have that, and ownership has signaled that they never will, because going out and paying for difference makers is apparently not part of the plan.

Talking Wednesday night in a vacuum, it’s hard to kill these guys for a game they weren’t expected to win. I don’t know what they could have done differently or better. Maybe Jesus Bueno starts over Leon Flach or Alejandro Bedoya. Maybe Jack McGlynn learns to track a run in the defensive third or maybe instead of sitting back, they high-press the shit out of a team that likes to dick around on the ball and play out of the back. Regardless, the fact of the matter is that they reached this point once again, and once again fell short. I’m not sure if you can be disappointed with a game in which you had zero expectations, but alas, the feeling persists.

As a sidenote, Danley made his Union debut. His first action was to try a sombrero in his own third and headbutt a teammate. It’s the perfect way to introduce yourself. Down 3-1 on the road in a cup semifinal and trying crazy-ass shit right off the bat. Welcome, Danley!