Bold soccer predictions for 2024: Alphonso to Madrid, Canadian teams fall short

Canadian soccer took it on the chin in 2023.

The women’s team failed to build upon its gold medal run at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics by crashing out of the FIFA World Cup in the group stage, and then saw iconic captain Christine Sinclair announce her international retirement. 

The men’s side didn’t fare any better, as it underwhelmed in the Concacaf Nations League and Gold Cup in the summer before long-time coach John Herdman stepped down to take over at Toronto FC. 

Internationally, Lionel Messi made headlines when he came to Major League Soccer after leaving Paris Saint-Germain to sign with Inter Miami, while Manchester City swept aside the competition by winning the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup. 

What will next year bring? Here are four bold predictions for 2024: 

Alphonso Davies moves to Real Madrid 

It’s inevitable, really. At one point or another, the game’s top stars end up at Real Madrid. Alfredo Di Stefano, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and countless others wore the club’s iconic all-white jersey at one point in their respective careers. 

Canadian Alphonso Davies will soon join that list. Los blancos are relentless in pursuing top stars from other teams, and the Spanish outfit is clearly focused on going after the Edmonton native who is considered one of the best fullbacks in the world today.  

Davies’s contract with Bayern Munich expires in summer 2025, but the German giants have been trying to sign him to an extension. According to recent media reports, the Canadian international has been unwilling to put pen to paper on a new deal unless he gets a major pay raise, but the Bavarian giants aren’t too keen to break the bank to keep him. 

Real Madrid can smell the blood in the water and will have no qualms about splashing major cash on the Canadian to lure him to Spain. Bayern Munich has been a great club for the 23-year-old Davies — it’s where he first shot to international fame. But Real Madrid is the club in world soccer and will allow the Canadian to take his personal brand to an entirely different level and become one of the sports’ biggest global superstars. 

Canadian women’s team falls short at Olympics 

Canada’s women’s team is riding a hot streak at the Olympics, having won bronze medals in 2012 in London and in 2016 in Rio before striking gold in 2021 in Tokyo. While all of those medal victories were team efforts, there’s no question that Canada greatly benefited from the presence, leadership and goals provided by Christine Sinclair, international soccer’s all-time leading scorer. 

Bev Priestman’s side will go into next summer’s Paris Olympics without Sinclair after the 40-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., officially retired from the national team earlier this month. The Canadians will play at the Concacaf W Gold Cup in February, so they’ll have a chance to be in a competitive environment without Sinclair before travelling to Paris. 

But questions still loom large over this team's offensive production, especially now without it being able to rely on its record goal scorer. As Sinclair’s goal-scoring prowess has diminished over the years, nobody has stepped up in a serious way to lead the attacking charge. The Canadians won gold in Tokyo, based on the strength of their goalkeeping and defending. That likely won’t be good enough in Paris as they’ll see their Olympic medal streak come to an end. 

Germany rebounds at Euro 2024

Predicting that Germany will win Euro 2024 might seem safe, as it has four World Cups and three European championships to its credit. But considering the current state of Die Mannschaft, it’s actually quite bold.

Germany has uncharacteristically stumbled along in recent years, having been eliminated in the group stage of the previous two FIFA World Cups and losing to England in the round-of-16 at Euro 2020. Former Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann has just one win in four games since being named the team’s new manager in September, which has raised further questions about the national team’s immediate future.

But Nagelsmann’s side will have home-field advantage as next summer’s Euro 2024 tournament will be held in Germany. Furthermore, the 16th-ranked Germans should be able to top Group A ahead of their modest first-round opponents in Switzerland (No. 18), Hungary (No. 27) and Scotland (No. 36). 

The opening match of the tournament sees the host nation play Scotland at Munich’s Allianz Arena, one of the most intimidating venues for visiting teams in world soccer. A victory over the Scots will kick off a marvellous run by the Germans, who’ll win their first European championship since 2014.

Arsenal wins ‘the treble’ 

Manchester City was the dominant force in club soccer this year by becoming only the eighth European side to win the treble. The Blues claimed a third consecutive Premier League title (and fifth in six years), hoisted the FA Cup and won the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history. 

In 2024, it’ll be Arsenal’s turn to record a historic treble. The Gunners have been the class of the 2023-24 Premier League season, as they top the table with 12 wins from their first 17 matches with only two losses. The London-based club sports the league’s best defensive record and one of its best attacking units under coach Mikel Arteta, and it is playing with a level of confidence that harkens back to the glory days of Arsene Wenger. 

In the Champions League, Arsenal cruised through the first round by winning four of six matches with only one loss to top their group, while Brazilian Gabriel Jesus was among the tournament’s top scorers with four goals. A round-of-16 matchup vs. Porto should be easily navigated by the Gunners, who’ll also begin their FA Cup campaign next month.  

Canadian men’s team fails to qualify for Copa América 

The immediate future of the Canadian men’s team looks pretty bleak. Canada suffered a shocking 3-2 loss to Jamaica in the decisive leg of its Concacaf Nations League qualifier in November, a result that was an absolutely brutal outcome for Les Rouges. 

The two-legged Nations League playoff finished 4-4 on aggregate, but the Jamaicans won the series on the away-goals rule. That means the Reggae Boyz clinched a berth for the 2024 Nations League finals and next summer’s Copa América (hosted by the United States) at the expense of the Canadians.  

The loss also meant that Canada was eliminated from Nations League contention and it now needs to win a one-game playoff in March against Trinidad & Tobago in order to advance to the Copa. 

Canada Soccer is in a financial crunch, so much so that the men’s team took off the September international window and played only one game in the October window. Canadian soccer’s governing only recently named a full-time general secretary (a position that had been filled on an interim basis by Jason de Vos since April), and the future of interim men’s team coach Mauro Biello remains up in the air. The continuing instability behind the scenes doesn’t bode well and will continue to adversely affect results on the pitch for the men’s team, which will lose its Copa playoff against Trinidad. 

John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.