Orlando City B’s Loss to Chattanooga Shows Impact Of Shak Mohammed

Orlando City B faced an independent team Saturday night, putting the Young Lions in a unique position. When they face fellow reserve sides, the games are usually the day after the first team plays. But Saturday night’s game was at the same time, and it showed issues in the OCB attack.

Chattanooga FC is one of two independent teams currently playing in MLS NEXT Pro. As you would expect, the Tennessee-based side plays most of its home games on Saturday nights, when they can draw bigger crowds.  Unfortunately, that means the Young Lions took the field the same night as the senior side, kicking off just 30 minutes prior to the MLS squad’s match in Philadelphia.

A lack of bodies for the first team meant multiple OCB regulars had to join the senior Lions for their trip to Philadelphia. The biggest loss for the game in Chattanooga was undoubtedly Shak Mohammed, who started on the bench for Orlando City.

While Mohammed has yet to claim his place with the first team, he’s made a major impact on the second team. His 11 goals last season led the Young Lions, and he has the team lead in goals this season with two in the first three games, including a goal in each of the two previous contests.

The 21-year-old’s absence was apparent Saturday night in Tennessee. Justin Ellis started in the position Mohammed usuallly occupies with Thalles starting up top. Meanwhile, Zakaria Taifi moved from his usual defensive position into the attacking midfield.

All three players had chances early in the game. While Ellis played the distributor, Thalles and Taifi had clear chances in the first 45 minutes. However, neither player was able to put the ball past Chattanooga goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, who had seven saves on the night.

The missed opportunities showed an issue that OCB might face in the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro season. The better Mohammed plays, the more likely he is to be with the first team. This usually won’t be a problem, as the two teams rarely play on the same days. But you can’t depend on that for the team’s success this season.

If OCB wants to improve on the 2024 campaign and win a postseason game for the first time in team history, the Young Lions will need others in the attack to step up. Otherwise, it could be frustrating nights when Mohammed is unavailable.

The lack of offensive efficiency Saturday night also showed how good Mohammed has been with the second team. Obviously, the third-division league is a much lower quality than the first-division MLS, but it leads to a question about Mohammed’s future in Orlando.

The forward was a first-round selection out of Duke in 2023. The Lions gave up Ruan in a trade with D.C. United to move up in the MLS SuperDraft, taking Mohammed with the second overall pick. Now in his third professional season, he hasn’t made the impression you’d expect from someone taken so high.

To be fair, we were seeing this with Jack Lynn as well. The 2022 first-round MLS SuperDraft pick was tearing it up in MLS NEXT Pro without seeing much time with the first team. However, he was clearly taking positive steps and was beginning to play a bigger role before retiring this past off-season.

Lynn’s departure left a spot Mohammed could fill for both teams, and he’s done a good job with OCB. His 11 goals showed a significant increase from his six goals for the Young Lions in 2023, despite only playing in two more games. Now, he just needs to show improvement with the first team.

Saturday night’s disappointing offensive performance by OCB showed Mohammed’s impact in the attack. While the Young Lions are a dangerous team with the Ghanaian in the lineup, nobody stepped up to fill his production in Chattanooga, resulting in the team’s first loss of the season. It showed the impact the attacker has had on the team this year and the improvements of his game.

Watching Moahmmed the remainder of the season will be interesting. Will he finally make the jump to appearing regularly with the first team? Will Ellis or Thalles fill Moahmmed’s production when he’s away? We should find out these answers in the near future.