When you have numbers in the attack, it's imperative that you score. In FIFA 08, however, there are times that even a one-on-one opportunity with the keeper can be difficult to finish. Often times during attacking buildup, you will find yourself in a 2 on 1 attacking opportunity. Two strikers will be attacking the goal. One striker has the ball on the near post, and the other is waiting on the backpost for the pass. However, the one defender often times plays the passing lane and leaves the striker with the ball to take their chances with the shot. The problem is that the angle when you have the ball on the near post leads often to the goalkeeper making the save. It's never a great feeling to miss out on a scoring opportunity when you have the advantage. Watch as SportsGamer shows you how to make the most of your near post opportunities.
Play Breakdown
You can see in the first image that Fabregas has received the ball and has two Aresenal teammates filling the lanes on the back post. In the image to the right he has beat the defender and actually has a three-on-one. However, a savvy FIFA opponent knows that he can't leave the backpost unguarded. Because of this, the defender lingers in the middle of the penalty box and is waiting to pick off the pass. This is going to leave Fabregas with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and not the best shooting angle.
Your first read should always be the back post, but you can clearly see that the defender is doing a good job of cutting off the pass. Here we make our way toward the keeper, and pull him off his line. Make sure not to be using the speed burst button here or you will knock the ball too far in front of you and lose the ball.
Once we pull the keeper off his line, as seen in the image to the left, we need to quickly turn completely horizontally from the goal. Basically take one to two dribbles directly at the sideline. This will leave the keeper thinking that you're moving the ball out of harms way, and he will slowly begin to retreat back to his goal.
As you can see in the image to the left, the keeper is at the edge of the penalty box, and starting to retreat to his goal. It is important then to quickly turn back toward the goal. If you don't turn your body you will kick the ball out of bounds. However, you can see in the image to the right that we have got Fabregas turned and facing the goal. At this point another defender is trying to get back to help, but we've already created the angle we need to score.
Babregas takes teh shot and the keeper doesn't have time to react. The angle we create here doesn't always seem to be the best angle, but if you practice this move you will find that it's a great way to consistently score goals.
Practice, Practice, Practice
There is most assuredly some skill involved in pulling off this move. The key is to practice until you understand how to pull the keeper out of position. The problem is that you may only get this opportunity once every other game, which would mean you'd need to spend hours upon hours perfecting this. Don't worry - SportsGamer has the solution for you. Practice this in Arena Mode. The keeper reacts in Arena Mode exactly how he does in game mode with regards to how he'll react to dribbling. You can go into Arena Mode with one of your strikers and practice dribbling around the goalkeeper over and over until you have perfected it. Like I said before, you may only get this opportunity once every other game, but if you take advantage, you can increase your goal production by .5 goals per game!
