The Team

And then there four… While the top half of the draw has panned out as many had expected, with the obvious exception of Brazil’s premature departure, the bottom half has been almost impossible to forecast (as is evidenced in the MFW writers’ World Cup prediction table!). No-one, literally no-one, had pencilled in Croatia, Russia, Sweden […]

One of the most gripping Group Stages in World Cup history is finally over, but it refused to go without a fuss. Just before it bowed out for good, 2018’s first phase claimed an almighty scalp and hurtled off into the distance before anyone had quite realised what it had done. All things considered, however, […]

Normality has been somewhat restored in the last few days, with wins for Brazil, France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany, just about. But Argentina’s comprehensive loss to Croatia means the first giant could still be about to fall – and as such La Albiceleste have plummeted down the rankings. If one team goes down, another must […]

And so, it begins… well almost. Before a ball has been kicked, this is how we rank the 32 teams. You may consider this is pure nonsense (we specialise in it). Feel free to disagree, in fact we insist. 1. Brazil A nation desperate to right the wrongs from four years ago, when the Seleção were […]

In the second part of our end-of-season summary, the MFW team give us their highs and lows … Martin Penney High… My season’s highlight began about 20 minutes before the Villa match. NCFC had an official outside stall selling quilted black managers’ jackets with OTBC in yellow on the deep-set left-hand pocket. Bought one, worn […]

Season over, and time to reflect. The MFW team, one-by-one, give us their highs and lows of a largely ‘meh’ season: Robin Sainty High… The win at Ashton Gate. We weren’t given much chance against a Bristol City team that was sweeping all before it but we produced a classic away performance as we soaked […]