As Round One of the tournament is now halfway to completion, we look back over the games so far, and, specifically, the McDonalds Bonus allocation system. With the decision of the game’s organisers to change the rules overnight on the first day and do away with points deducted for stray passes, many managers will, quite rightly, feel their selection policies were undermined. So with four days gone, has the scoring system improved to reflect the on-field play?

In some ways it has, but it still falls a long way short; for instance, despite Joachim Loew’s Germany battering Australia 4-0, they were awarded 8 attacking points, only 2 more than their opponents. So who exactly has been getting the top marks? Here’s a look at how McDonalds have distributed their Bonus system so far…

Group A

Attacking
8 Pts- France (Diaby 3, Evra 2, Sagna 2, Ribery 1)
4 Pts- Mexico (Dos Santos 3, Torrado 1)
2 Pts- Uruguay (Lodeiro 1, Forlan 1)
1 Pt- S Africa (Mphela 1)
Defensive
10 Pts- Uruguay (M Pereira 2, Godin 2, Lugano 2, Arevalo 2, A Pereira 1, Perez 1)
6 Pts- S Africa (Mokoena 2, Letsholonyane 2, Gaxa 1, Dikgacoi 1)
4 Pts- Mexico (Salcido 2, Rodriguez 1, Vela 1)
2 Pts- France (Gallas 1, Sagna 1)

Group B

Attacking
17 Pts- Argentina (Messi 6, Tevez 6, Heinze 1, Veron 1, Mascherano 1, Di Maria 1, Milto 1)
6 Pts-Greece (Seitaridis 3, Kapetanos 2, Torisidis 1)
4 Pts-S Korea (Chung Young 2, Young Pyou 1, Jung Woo 1)
3 Pts-Nigeria (Uche 2, Martins 1)
Defensive
5 Pts-Argentina (Mascherano 4, Gutierrrez 1)
5 Pts-S Korea (Young Pyou 2, Yong Hyung 2, Song Yueng 1)
5 Pts Nigeria (Yobo 1, Shittu 1, Taiwo 1, Haruna 1, Obasi 1)
1 Pt-Greece (Papadopoulos 1)

Group C

Attacking
5 Pts-Slovenia (Jokic 2, Kirm 2, Koren 1)
4 Pts- Algeria (Kadir 2, Belhadj 1, Ziani 1)
3 Pts- England (A Cole 2, Rooney 1)
2 Pts USA (Cherundolo 1, Donovan 1)
Defensive
6 Pts- USA (Howard 2, Onyewu 2, Bocanegra 1, Bradley 1)
5 Pts- Algeria (Yebda 2, Bougherra 1, Matmouri 1, Ziani 1)
3 Pts- Slovenia (Cesar 1, Brecko 1, Novakovic 1)
0 Pts- England

Group D

Attacking
8 Pts- Germany (Podolski 3, Muller 2, Lahm 2, Schweinsteiger 1)
7 Pts- Ghana (Pantsil 2, Prince-Boateng 2, Ayew 1, Tagoe 1, Asamoah 1)
6 Pts- Australia (Emerton 2, Holman 1, Valeri 1, Culina 1, Rukavytsya 1)
2 Pts- Serbia (Stankovic 1, Lazovic 1)
Defensive
7 Pts- Ghana (Vorsah 3, Sarpei 1, Pantsil 1, Mensah 1, Prince-Boateng 1)
5 Pts- Serbia (Milijas 3, Kolarov 2)
4 Pts- Germany (Mertesacker 2, Lahm 1, Podolski 1)
1 Pt- Australia (Garcia 1)

To a certain degree, the points are indicative of how each individual team is set out in terms of shape and tactics. For example, Uruguay, by nature, are a defensive type of side and this shows in the fact that 3 of their starting back four and 3 of their starting midfield four all picked up defensive Bonus Points against France.

In turn, France, due to their 4-3-3 shape, are resultantly narrow in the middle, which shows in the fact that 3 of their 4 players picking up attacking Bonus Points were from wide areas; Sagna and Evra, the full-backs, and Franck Ribery.

Alternately, Argentina’s shape is particularly narrow, and explains why 15 of their 17 attacking Bonus Points and 4 of their 5 defensive Bonus Points came from players in central positions. A look at their shape in the Nigeria game shows this perfectly, and suggests why Mascherano, sitting so close to his back four, grabbed so many points.

Further analysis, however, indicates that regardless of team and tactics, there are certain positions which seem to perform with a greater consistency than most:

Attacking Bonus Points By Position

Defensive Bonus Points By Position

In short, there is one position that seems to be the most rewarded, and that is full-back. Both in going forward and defending, this is panning out to be the safest bet in terms of accumulating points in the McDonalds game, whether the game is goalless or a rout. It’s no coincidence that of the eight players so far who have been awarded both attacking and defensive Bonus Points, four of them have been full-backs.

With one of the main factors in this game being “Solo Runs”, the full-back seems to be the one position more than most to benefit from such a factor, as indicated by this outstanding article by Jonathan Wilson -written last year- indicates

“Come next summer’s World Cup…perhaps we should be concentrating on the full-backs…the full-backs are the only players on the field who regularly have space in front of them, and where there is space there is also opportunity..”

And McDonalds Bonus Points, by the looks of it.