FIFA 2008 Tips and Tricks

Let me start by saying…FIFA IS THE BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!! Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I’ll try my best to share with you some tips and tricks I have learned from playing this game for an ungodly amount of time. Well, first things first. Choosing what team you are going to play with is of course one of the most important things that will go into determining if you win or lose. What I’m saying is don’t pick some random United States MLS team, like the Kansas City Wizards for instance, if your opponent is playing with Barcelona or Manchester United or some such highly skilled team. Obvious, right? So why am I writing it? I don’t know good question…

Anyway, the second thing you need to consider is your formations and also who is going to be playing in what position. Usually Fifa does a good job choosing this for you automatically, but in some cases you may find it beneficial to rearrange some stuff yourself. Once this is done you listen to the nice song on the loading screen and try to score against the goalie 1v1 for a minute or so until the game loads. Okay, you see the fans cheering, you tap X on your controller repeatedly so you don’t have to seem them anymore, and THEN…OMG…IT STARTS! Your heart races, your palms begin to sweat, you become muddle-headed, start feeling like you are going to faint…okay not really

Offense

• Don’t worry too much about using the skill moves, in fact, you really don’t need to use them at all. Sure, they may look cool and be fun to do, but I’ve rarely played anyone who actually made it harder for me to beat them by using skill moves.
• Quick and smart wins the game. Do not over think who you are going to pass to and what you are going to do. When you see someone open, pass it to them, and as the pass is going through you should be looking at who you are going to pass to next when you receive the first pass. This will give your opponent little/no time to react, and the less time he has the better. Pass smartly though…don’t try to force anything or you may wind up in trouble.
• Learn to keep possession of the ball with one player, the longer you can do this the more open your fellow teammates will be able to get, and you will be able to thread some good passes through lanes that otherwise would not have opened up. One good way to learn this skill is to play on the mode called “Be a Pro”. This lets you play as a single member of the team (either with other on-line players or the CPU), and you are forced to improve your ball handling skills. As I said earlier though, don’t worry too much about doing the skill moves, what is more important is the simple yet often overlooked things. These things are…stopping unexpectedly (your opponent will fly by you), making a quick turn, stopping and then sprinting away quickly, etc… Basically just try to think what your opponent is expecting you to do (what would you expect if you were in his shoes? Figuratively speaking…), and do the opposite. Be unpredictable. This is a huge component of having success in the game.
• Goals scored is important. Shots and shots on target are not. I’ve played many games where I have had three shots, and three goals. Don’t shoot just to shoot, but wait for the right opportunity and try to set yourself up for the perfect goal scoring shot.
•  You find yourself on a breakaway and are soon going to be one on one with the goalie! What do you do so you don’t screw it up? The easiest and surest way to score in this situation is to simply wait for the goalie to make his first move and come out of the box towards you, and as soon as he does this, all you do is simply turn to the left or the right, shoot, and score. This works 99.9% of the time, against 99.9% of the goalies in the game. Also, a word of caution, if you are on a big breakaway and no one is even close to you, the goalie may come out running and try to steal the ball before you have a chance to shoot. To stop this from happening just lay off the speed boost for a second, slow down, wait for the goalie to come charging out, turn, shoot, score!
• Free kicks are fun and offer a good opportunity to score, but if you are too far out (more then 10 yards outside of the box) don’t even bother shooting. You won’t make it. Better to pass or lob the ball into the air in these situations, and hope something happens
•  Corner kicks…you will rarely score on these by lobbing the ball into the air and hoping someone heads it into the net. Sometimes you might, true, it does happen, but most of the times it is better to pass the ball to your nearest uncovered player. Sometimes he will be right in front of you, and other times you will have to kick it to the dude in the way back. If this is the case you will have to hold in the passing button to get it all the way to him. Play the situation well, and you can usually work your way into the box and into a good position to shoot and score.

Defense

• When playing defense, anticipation is key. If you are good at guessing what your opponent is going to do you have a great chance of intercepting a pass and going down field to score.
• Be aggressive on defense, but be smart. Be careful not to play too close or you may get burned, but don’t play too passively either or you may never get the ball. Once in awhile take one of your defenders from down field and speed boost him up to your opponent who has the ball and try to quick slide tackle him. This often works because they are not expecting it, and he will play a little more cautiously when he has the ball.

Penalty Kicks

• The game has gone into overtime. Overtime is done and you are going penalty kicks! To increase your chances of blocking a shot, DO NOT DIVE. When you see the players shoot indicator bar start to fill up, quickly move your goalie to the left or the right. This will guarantee that if you do guess the right direction, the shot will be blocked, as opposed to diving which is more of a 50-50 if you guess the right way. So basically by moving the goalie you have a 1/3 chance of stopping the kick, as opposed to 1/6 if you choose to dive.

Hopefully this helps someone, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at iheartmuffins16@gmail.com