With the Copa America, Women's World Cup, African Cup of Nations & much more to look forward to, the next 12 months will be huge for football fans
Getty Images1Juventus will win the Champions League
Real Madrid are rebuilding and do not possess the same class as bygone years. Barcelona have Lionel Messi and a huge gap to their next best players. Bayern Munich are a side in transition with no great tactical mind in the dugout. Manchester City are burning themselves out.
The stage would appear to be set for another contender to go to the semi-finals and beyond in the Champions League. This year it could finally be the turn of Juventus.
Having signed Cristiano Ronaldo with the express short-term goal of winning the Champions League, the perennial Italian champions appear right on track.
While their European performances before Christmas were occasionally indifferent, they have the strength, quality, experience and match-winning nous to go far.
It could be a first European title for 1996 for the Bianconeri.
AdvertisementGetty Images2Mourinho to end up back at Real Madrid
Contracts at the biggest clubs come with few certainties for managers and Real Madrid is no different. Santiago Solari got off to a good start at Santiago Bernabeu, but few would back the Argentine to still be in charge come next season.
The sacking of Jose Mourinho by Manchester United means the Special One’s shadow will loom large over the coming months, especially as club president Florentino Perez is known to still be an admirer
It would be a sensational return to management for Mourinho, who has unfinished business both at Real and at the top level in general.
Getty Images3Antonio Conte becomes the best fit for Manchester United
It looks as though Manchester United will try hard to lure Mauricio Pochettino from Tottenham this summer. They need to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was signed from Molde as a stopgap following the sacking of Mourinho.
Pochettino, however, has benefited from patience at board and support level at Spurs. Neither is guaranteed at Old Trafford. With a new stadium to move into and a bright generation ahead, Pochettino might well consider his future best served in London.
In any case, Antonio Conte appears a much better fit for a club of United's profile. He is currently out of work and waiting for the best job he can get. Moreover, he is proven at Premier League level having won the league with Chelsea and is capable of taming even the most rowdy of dressing rooms.
He is made for winning at the top level and the sooner Ed Woodward realises it the better.
Thomas Shea4USWNT to retain the Women's World Cup
The preeminent team in the women’s game are the United States, and they enter the summer’s World Cup as strong favourites to retain their trophy, last won in 2015.
Only four countries have ever won the tournament throughout its history, with Germany, Norway and Japan matching the US’s achievement and only the Germans retaining it to this point.
The US said goodbye to a number of their best-ever players after the 2015 tournament but should be at full strength come June having gone through 2018 without once tasting defeat.
This year’s dark horses appear to be reigning European champions Netherlands, who boast one of the world’s best in Barcelona’s Lieke Martens.
Hosts France will also need to be watched as the core of a very successful Lyon side forms the backbone for Les Bleues.