In many ways, 2021 was a break year for canadian soccer .
The women ’ randomness team struck gold at the Tokyo Olympics, while the men ’ mho side put the lie of CONCACAF on notice during the World Cup qualifiers .
internationally, this past year gave us a number of surprises, including Italy being crowned european champions, and Chelsea winning its second UEFA Champions League title .
What will following class bring ? here are five bold predictions for world soccer in 2022 :

1. Canada advances to the round of 16 at the World Cup

The canadian men ’ mho team ’ s lone former World Cup appearance came in 1986 in Mexico, when it bowed out in the group stage after suffering three consecutive shutout losses. ever since, Canada hasn ’ t come close to qualifying for the biggest sporting event on the satellite. That will change following year, as Canada will punch its ticket for the 2022 World Cup .

But the Reds won ’ metric ton barely be spectators in Qatar, or plainly be satisfied to be back at the World Cup for the first meter in 36 years. Buoyed by a talented generation of young attacking players, such as Alphonso Davies, coach John Herdman ’ mho english will punch well above their weight and do two things that the Canadian team couldn ’ thyroxine in Mexico back in 1986 : seduce a goal and win a game. not merely that, Canada will emerge from its first-round group and move on to the round of 16 .
“ The flare and fearlessness, and with guys like ( Alphonso ) Davies, ( Jonathan ) David and ( Tajon ) Buchanan, we ’ ve never had a team this talented and dangerous, ” said Bob Lenarduzzi, who was a penis of Canada ’ randomness 1986 World Cup team .

2. Toronto lands an NWSL expansion franchise

The National Women ’ mho Soccer League is experiencing a fantastic growth time period at the here and now. Racing Louisville made its debut as the NWSL ’ s 10th club in 2021, and the league is set to add two more teams next year when Los Angeles and San Diego will begin play .
A number of american english cities are presently looking to join the affray as expansion franchises, but 2022 will be the year that the NWSL heads north and announces its first canadian club .

winnow concern in the women ’ south game has never been higher in this nation in the aftermath of Canada ’ s gold decoration victory at the Tokyo Olympics. respective members of the Canadian team, including master Christine Sinclair ( who plays for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL ) have publicly called for the league to add a canadian club, while Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis is securely committed to helping the country land its inaugural expansion franchise .
“ I ‘m bequeath to say I ‘ll work my butt off to get an NWSL team in Canada, ” Bontis said after his election succeed last November .

3. Croatia wins the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

After finishing one-third at the 1998 World Cup in France, Croatia went through a dry spell as it made group stage exits in its future three tournament appearances, and didn ’ t tied qualify in 2010 .
But the Croatians reasserted themselves at the 2018 World Cup in Russia by finishing runner-up to France, and followed that up with a solid round-of-16 screening at Euro 2020 when it lost a heartbreaker to Spain in extra time.

In 2022, Croatia will last do well by winning the World Cup. Coach Zlatko Dalić ’ south side is coming off a arresting qualify crusade in which they won seven of 10 games ( with only one loss ) and sported one of the best defensive records ( good four goals against ) .
What ’ s more, they have the mercurial Luka Modric still pulling the creative strings in midfield. At age 36, Modric is playing some of the best soccer of his career, but the 2022 World Cup probably represents his final luck to win something with his national team. The substantial Madrid leading will continue to turn back the clock and lead his state to glory in Qatar .

4. Jonathan David makes a transfer move to FC Barcelona

At 21 years old, Jonathan David has the world at his feet. The intersection of Ottawa has become one of the hottest young prospects in the world ever since his transfer travel from belgian club Gent to French side Lille OSC in the summer of 2020 .
The Canadian forward has thrived in France by scoring at a regular rate, and guiding Lille a league championship end season. He has besides played a starring function in helping Lille qualify for the round off of 16 in this season ’ randomness UEFA Champions League .
clear clubs from across Europe have taken notice of David ’ s bristling form for Lille and are queuing up to table a transfer crack adjacent summer, including a host of English teams that have already been linked to the Canadian .
But it will be FC Barcelona who ends up landing David, who leads the french league in scoring with 11 goals. The spanish giants have fallen on hard times of late, as they exited this season ’ sulfur Champions League in the group stage and sit seventh in the spanish league table, a full 15 points behind leaders and bitter rivals actual Madrid .
Barcelona is in desperate need of a roll pass, specially in attack, as it has been lost up front since Lionel Messi ’ mho passing, while Sergio Aguero recently announced his retirement at age 33 due to heart problems. The blaugrana will turn to David and table a massive transmit offer to Lille in hopes that the Canadian can help revitalize their fail fortunes .

5. Ajax wins the UEFA Champions League

Bayern Munich and Liverpool were among the three teams that went a perfect 6-0 in the group stage of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League. That shouldn ’ thymine come as besides much of a surprise, considering their stature as two of the biggest club in the world .

But would it surprise you to learn that the third team to sport a perfect record in the group stage was Ajax ? The humble dutch club, which won the final of its four Champions League titles in 1995, was positively arresting in the group stage, winning all six of its games by a combine 20-5 score note .
Ajax besides boasts the crown scorekeeper in this season ’ second tournament, as previously unannounced Ivory Coast striker Sébastien Haller exploded for 10 goals and became lone the second player in Champions League history ( Cristiano Ronaldo was the early ) to score in all six matches of a single group stage .
Ajax will face Benfica in the round of 16, and it ’ s carnival to assume the Dutch will brush apart their portuguese opponents. After that, the Amsterdamers will continue to ride their incredible wave of momentum and claim their first european entitle in 27 years.

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 presently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a web site dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and canadian soccer. TFC Republic can be found here .