Match Preview: Orlando City B v Chattanooga FC
Both sides need a win to boost ailing campaigns
Match: Orlando City B v Chattanooga FC
Date: Saturday, August 9th, 2025. 19:00 (Eastern)
Venue: Osceola Heritage Park, Kissimmee, FL. Capacity: 5,300
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+
Tickets: ticketmaster
Chattanooga FC (6th) travels to Florida this weekend to take on Orlando City B (10th) in what is a crunch MLS Next Pro tie for both sides. The game at Osceola Heritage Park sees two wounded teams, both coming off home losses, aiming to reset their seasons in advance of a late summer playoff push. As with many games at this point in the season, it’s a must win for both clubs.
Orlando (League: P:20 W:5 D:8 L:7 SOW:2 GF:27 GA:41 GD:-14) are struggling to keep up with the chasing pack below playoff qualification, and come into the game on the back of a heavy 4-1 home loss to New York City FC II. With one of the league’s most porous defenses, they’ve conceded the joint-second most number of goals in the MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference, and have the second worst goal difference. They are on a three-game losing streak in which they’ve conceded a whopping 11 goals and scored just 1. Their saving grace this weekend is that they are at home and, although they did ship four goals against NYC FC II, they’ve won six of their nine games in Kissimmee.
Chattanooga (P:20 W:8 D:6 L:6 SOW:3 GF:31 GA:31 GD:0) are also hurting. They’re winless in nine games, having last tasted victory on May 24. They’re on a two game losing streak, falling 2-1 at home against Toronto FC II last weekend after having been a goal up. Once the pace setters in the division, their summer form has seen them slip to 6th place, looking over their shoulder at a pack of clubs chasing precious playoff spots. They need a win to stop the rot, kick-start their campaign again, and boost morale. A positive is that they're rarely shutout. The last time they failed to score was against Chicago Fire on July 5th. Since then they’ve played four games (two home, two away) and scored seven goals (but conceded 10).
Tennessean referee Benjamin Meyer will officiate the match which kicks off at 7pm and will be broadcast live on Apple TV+ for those with an MLS Season Pass.
The History
Orlando: P:2 W:1 D:0 L:1 SOW:0 GF:2 GA:3
Chattanooga: P:2 W:1 D:0 L:1 L:2 SOW:0 GF:3 GA:2
Tonight’s game will be the third of three regular season meetings between the two sides. Their first contest on April 5 was an evenly matched affair but nonetheless resulted in a 2-0 shutout win for CFC at Finley Stadium. Daniel Mangarov and Keegan Ancelin were on the scorecard that day.
On June 1 the sides met again, this time in Kissimmee, and Orlando gained a 2-1 win. Shak Mohammed and Noah Levis netted for the home team either side of a Steeve Louis-Jean strike for Chattanooga.
Report cards and lineups
Orlando
Orlando’s coach Manuel Goldberg, in his second season at the helm, will have found last weekend’s thrashing by New York a sobering experience. They were already 3-0 down by the time they finally got on the scoreboard through Shak Mohammed, and even then conceded a fourth in extra time. This, despite the fact that they were matched 50/50 on possession and had far more chances than their visitors, taking more shots (23 to 11), shots on target (11 to 4), and big chances (2 to 1). So, how on earth did they lose 4-1? Well, one was poor defending, another was an own goal after more poor defending, the third was a freak, and the fourth was even more bad defending. CFC should take note, this Orlando side is shaky at the back.
Goldberg has consistently put out a 4-2-3-1 across the three heavy losses the side recently suffered and hasn’t changed personnel much.
Ghanaian forward Shak Mohammed is the danger-man in this Orlando team and my player to watch tonight. He leads his team with eight goals on the season and has taken 50 shots, the fourth most in the league. Farid Sar-Sar and co will need to marshal him closely to ensure Orlando are shutout. Attacking midfielder Justin Ellis is another threat. He has the most goal contributions in the side with 10 (seven goals and three assists).
Captain Carlos Mercado is a talented keeper. He has youth international experience with in the United States and Mexico setups. In front of him will likely be a back-four featuring two of Thomas Williams, Hayden Sargis, or Jackson Platts in between Japanese right-back Riyon Tori and left-back Tahir Reid-Brown. The latter has played the fifth most minutes of any MLS Next Pro player this season.
Ahead of Mohammed and Ellis up front will likely be Brazilian forward Thalles. He is on loan from Botafogo.
Williams, Mohammed, Ellis, Gustavo Caraballo, Favian Loyola, and Zakaria Taifi all have experience with the senior Orlando team. Sargis has prior MLS experience with DC United. As well as Mercado, there’s also international youth experience in this squad with the United States (Williams, Platts, Colin Guske, Caraballo, Ellis, and Reid-Brown), Canada (Dylan Judelson and Clovis Archange), Finland (Noah Levis), Chile (Loyola), and Algeria (Abdellaoui).
Chattanooga
Head Coach Chris Nugent’s side desperately wants a win to punch some momentum into a season that continues to slip out of grasp. Last weekend’s loss at home to Toronto was bitter, especially after Chattanooga had taken the lead right on the cusp of half-time. While CFC have scored seven goals in their last four games, they’ve not scored as many as the chances they’ve created merit. There’s also been some sloppy defensive errors, but the lack of form shouldn’t fall solely on the defense. In the first half against Toronto, they utterly dominated and should have gone in at half-time well clear of the Canadians. They continued to have chances in the second half but let Toronto back into the game too easily. Being more clinical up-front, more focused at the back, and more mentally tough across 90 minutes can see Chattanooga regain form. A poorly Orlando side, might be the opposition they need.
It’s unclear what setup and personnel Nugent will favor as he continues to try combinations that will unlock a win. Some certainties as always are that Goalkeeper Eldin Jakupović and defenders Farid Sar-Sar and Nathan Koehler will start. Jakupović and Sar-Sar are joint-top of the league in minutes played (1,800). Jakupović is one of four goalkeepers at the joint top of the league in clean sheets (5).
Midfielder Daniel Mangarov and wing-back Tate Robertson share the club lead for league goals scored (6). Robertsons’s eight assists (second most in the league) mean he leads in goal contributions (14). Mangarov also has an Open Cup goal to his name and seven assists. Up front, where the goals need to come from, Markus Naglestad has two goals and one assist across all competitions, although many of his appearances earlier in the season were from the bench. Young attacker Keegan Ancelin has three goals and two assists and needs to regain his early season form when most of those goal contributions were lodged.
Gavin Turner, on loan from DC United, missed last week’s game with Toronto but I expect him back in the side tonight and is my player to watch for CFC if he plays. He’s shown in his few games so far, especially away at Philadelphia Union II where he scored a cracker, that he’s a classy midfielder and may be able to fill the Alex McGrath shaped hole in the middle of this team. Like Hayden Sargis, he also has MLS experience with DC United.
And as I gave an overview of the international experience at Orlando City B, its worth mentioning that Jakupović is a senior international with Switzerland, and that Mangarov and Turner have experience in the United States youth setup.
Analysis and Predictions
I’m envisioning a tight game between these sides as neither will want to lose. The two previous games between them this season ended in a victory apiece but both were very evenly matched affairs. I’m anticipating the same today and a possible 1-1 draw.
