____ __ ____ _____ | __| | | | __| | _ | | |_ | | | |_ | |_| | | _| | | | _| | _ | | | | | | | | | | | |_| |__| |_| |_| |_| ____ _____ _____ _____ |__ | | _ | | _ | | ___| __| | | | | | | | | | | |___ | __| | | | | | | | | |___ | | |__ | |_| | | |_| | ___| | |____| |_____| |_____| |_____| *==================================\ Game FIFA FOOTBALL 2005 | Guide Type Full Guide | Platform GameCube | Rating G | Author TheMagicMushroom22 | E-mail AstroMan_022@hotmail.com | *==================================/ *=======\ CONTENTS | *=======/ 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS 3. CAREER MODE a. Getting Started b. Career Central i. Play Next Game ii. Simulate Next Game iii. Squad iv. Options v. Save Career vi. Fixtures vii. Tables c. End of Season 4. MY FIFA 2005 a. My FIFA 2005 Store b. My FIFA 2005 Trophy Room 5. TIPS a. Gameplay Tips# b. Career Tips# 6. FORMATIONS & TACTICS a. Formations b. Tactics 7. FAQS 8. CONCLUSION 9. VERSION HISTORY 10. CREDITS 11. COPYRIGHT # Half Done *==============\ 1. INTRODUCTION | *==============/ This FAQ/guide for FIFA 2005 is my second FAQ after I did FIFA 2004 last year. I hope I can improve on last year's one as I have added tactics and a more in depth Career Mode guide. If you need any help with the game at all please feel free to e-mail me at AstroMan_022@hotmail.com. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU FULLY READ THE GUIDE FIRST, as last year I had heaps of e-mails which asked about things already covered in the guide. Please be patient too, as I only go on the net once every couple of days. Oh, and while this guide may be for GameCube, most of things are the same except the controls and online so don't feel as if you can't e-mail me. *==========\ 2. CONTROLS | *==========/ MENU NAVIGATION -------------------------------------------------- HIGHLIGHT OPTION +Control Pad/Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- SELECT HIGHLIGHTED A Button OPTION/ADVANCE TO NEXT SCREEN -------------------------------------------------- BACK/PREVIOUS B Button SCREEN -------------------------------------------------- NEXT PAGE L/R Button ================================================== GENERAL GAMEPLAY -------------------------------------------------- MOVE PLAYER Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- SPRINT Hold R Button+Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- ACTIVATE IGM Hold Z+R Button -------------------------------------------------- PAUSE GAME Start/Pause Button ================================================== ATTACKING(with ball) -------------------------------------------------- PASS/HEADER A Button -------------------------------------------------- MANUAL THROUGH BALL L+A Button -------------------------------------------------- SHOT/HEADER/VOLLEY/ CLEARANCE B Button -------------------------------------------------- CHIP SHOT L+B Button -------------------------------------------------- FAKE SHOT Hold Z Button -------------------------------------------------- LOB/CROSS Normal X Button -------------------------------------------------- EARLY CROSS L+X Button -------------------------------------------------- LOW HARD CROSS Double Tap X Button -------------------------------------------------- THROUGH BALL (ASSISTED) Y Button -------------------------------------------------- LOBBED THROUGH BALL L+Y Button -------------------------------------------------- SKILL MOVES C Stick ================================================== DEFENDING(without ball) -------------------------------------------------- SWITCH PLAYER A Button -------------------------------------------------- CONSERVATIVE TACKLE B Button -------------------------------------------------- SLIDING TACKLE X Button -------------------------------------------------- GOALIE CHARGE Y Button ================================================== GOALKEEPER IN POSSESSION -------------------------------------------------- MOVE/AIM KICK Control Stick OR THROW -------------------------------------------------- THROW A Button -------------------------------------------------- HIGH KICK X/B Button -------------------------------------------------- DROP BALL Y Button ================================================== ATTACKING SET PIECES(direct free kicks & corners) -------------------------------------------------- MOVE/AIM KICK Control Stick(direct free kicks only) -------------------------------------------------- MOVE PLAYER Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- PRESET ROUTINE +Control Pad UP/DOWN and A to select -------------------------------------------------- PASS TO RECEIVER B/X/Y Button -------------------------------------------------- BALL SPIN C Stick(direct free kicks only) -------------------------------------------------- JOSTLE C Stick(corners only) -------------------------------------------------- SHOOT B/X/Y Button(direct free kicks only) ================================================== INDIRECT FREE KICK & GOAL KICK -------------------------------------------------- AIM Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- LONG PASS X/B Button(HOLD for power) -------------------------------------------------- SHORT PASS A Button(HOLD for power) ================================================== TAKING A THROW IN -------------------------------------------------- MOVE RECIEVER Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- CHANGE RECIEVER A Button -------------------------------------------------- THROW X/Y Button ================================================== TAKING A PENALTY KICK -------------------------------------------------- AIM SHOT Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- SHOOT B Button(HOLD for power) ================================================== DEFENDING SET PIECES OTHER THAN PENALTY KICKS -------------------------------------------------- MOVE PLAYER/WALL Control Stick -------------------------------------------------- WALL JUMP X/Y/B Button -------------------------------------------------- SWITCH PLAYER A Button -------------------------------------------------- JOSTLE C-Stick ================================================== DEFENDING A PENALTY KICK -------------------------------------------------- DIVE Control Stick+B Button ================================================== *==============\ 3. CAREER MODE | *==============/ In this section I will tell you what each menu and option does in Career Mode and how to prolong your managerial career with your team(in other words, how not to get fired). ;) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.a GETTING STARTED First choose Career Mode in the Game Modes section. You start off by naming your career file, reading the details of what Career Mode is all about and picking your look and name. Now you're at a fairly important screen, where you pick the zone(out of 5) that you want to play in. Then all the teams in that zone without a manager will be up for selection. Don't expect to find Arsenal and company here though. Just about all teams are in the lower divisions or are really poor at the top level. If you aren't happy with the teams you can get some different ones by going back out to the area select then going back into the team select. You won't find many changes early on though. The local newspaper is displayed next with your club and announcing it's new manager and a little paragraph about you saying how good the club is or the chairman saying what a great move they have made. But you won't let them down will you? Of course not! Leading on to the club's expectations, these are displayed next saying something like finish in the top half, get a top three finish or win the league. Up next is your staff which by using points you earn after each game or the end of the season. You start out with 100 points and try to even them out at first but later on only spend on the more important areas(see the tips section for more detail). Here's what I did: Strikers 15 Midfield 15 Defence 15 Goalkeeping 15 Fitness Coach 10 Finance 10 Medical Staff 10 Scouting Staff 10 Once you build up to 100 points you gain a level and I think this is when your players develop, when you go up a level. You gain points by winning(the more goals you win by give you more points), winning big games against rivals, winning in cup competition, the club giving you points because they like the way your managing and end of season reward. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.b CAREER CENTRAL Here is your main window displaying all things from your next game to your job security and what team you just played and the result. This is what all the menu options do: ************************* 3.b.i PLAY NEXT GAME Play your next opponent. You can have a last-minute fiddle with your team here as well. ************************* 3.b.ii SIMULATE NEXT GAME Simulate your next game. You get updates of all bad misses, crude tackles and goals. Press A to intervene if things are going pear-shaped. This will take you to the current state of play. ************************* 3.b.iii SQUAD Prepare your team for the upcoming game. You can change formation, put unfit players in the reserves and put reserves on the bench. I change my team after each game so fitness doesn't become a major worry. ************************* 3.b.iv OPTIONS There are a lot of options to choose from here: - Tactics: See 6.b TACTICS - Stats Central: You can look at each players individual performance and how each team stacks up on passes completed etc.. You can also see the cups and leagues your in as well as viewing the ECC and EFA results and tables in your second year. - Transfer Market: During the two transfer windows(preseason till early September and during January) you can sell your players(of whom most should have been bidded for) and buy some new players with your money. - Upgrades: This takes you to the staff page where you can add your points to improve your team. See 3.a for more info. - Team Summary: View all your players skill ratings and so on. You can also see other team's players. - Manager Summary: View your record for each team you have been with, all the cups you've won throughout your career and your rating. - Game Settings: Contains all the options like volume and difficulty etc. Some of these options aren't available in career but I've included them anyway. - My Team: Select the team you support. They'll automatically appear when you select Play Now with their rival. - Half Length: Choose how long the half will go. Minimum of 2, maximum of 10. - Difficulty Level: Choose between Amateur(easiest) and World Class(hardest). - Game Speed: Select how fast the game will run. - Injuries: Choose whether players can get injured. - Offside: Select whether or not the offside rule is used. - Bookings: Determines whether yellow or red cards will be handed out. - Time/Score Display: Choose if you can see the scores and time on the top corner of the screen. - Player Status Bar: You can have the status bar show the player's name or display nothing. - Camera: Select which camera you want to use. - Radar: Choose whether you want the radar in the way of the game or not. - Rumble: Select on to get the vibration when tackled. - Home/Away Auto Switching: I think this is how often the computer automatically changes the player you are selecting to someone closer to the ball. I usually have mine completely off, it does get very annoying at times. - Commentary/Game SFX/Menu Music Volume: Choose how loud the audio is. - Set Pieces: Change all your set-pieces for corners and free-kicks around the goal. - My FIFA 2005 Store: See 5.a My FIFA 2005 Store. - My FIFA 2005 Trophy Room: See 5.b My FIFA 2005 Trophy Room. - Transaction History: This shows all of the transfers done in the current transfer window by all clubs in all leagues, not just your own. ************************* 3.b.v SAVE CAREER Saves your career file. This does take a while and doesn't save your game settings. ************************* 3.b.vi FIXTURES Press X at the Career Central menu and all of your upcoming fixtures will be displayed. For some strange reason you have to fly to away cup games but not when you play them away in a league game. Strange indeed. ************************* 3.b.vii TABLES By pressing Y at the Career Central menu your league table pops up. You can move across to select columns and by pressing Y you can sort all teams by goals scored etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.c END OF SEASON Many people will think oh it's the end of the season- I can get smashed and relax but in FIFA 2005 there's none of that. You're tossed straight back in to the action, kind of. First you'll see the newspaper saying how well you went or not went. You'll either love reading this or not, if you faired poorly. Here comes the part that'll make or break you- the boards decision into whether they want to keep you or not. I don't know what happens when you don't reach their expectation but I guess it's that they will get rid of you or if your lucky keep you on for another season. Your job security metre is displayed next and the board adds percentage if you fulfilled their expectations and it goes down if you disappointed. Now you see the team select screen. If at first the team you want isn't appearing go out to the area select and back in again and the teams change. If you choose the same team retired players and their replacements are shown but if you go to a new club new and retiring players aren't mentioned. Once your team is selected the board shows you the expectations for this year and then a paper announcing your re-signing or new home. And that's basically it, you have only 14 more seasons or roughly 700 games to go. Hopefully by then you can get to your dream club. *==============\ 4. MY FIFA 2005 | *==============/ 4.a MY FIFA 2005 STORE This place has all of the unlockable kits, night stadiums, balls, songs and Pierluigi Collina to unlock by spending your hard earned points. There are a total of 80 items to unlock with a total of 391,000. The total for all the objectives though is 422,000 so you may not have to do all of them. The list is below and while I found some of these myself I'd like to thank Syxx676 for contributing 90% of these as I didn't have most of them and the time. Of course some are impossible for GCN owners like "Play Online" and "Play A Football Fusion Match" but most are the same on all consoles. Thanks again Syxx676! ______________________________________________ |POINTS | OBJECTIVE | |_______|______________________________________| |1000 | Go To Career Mode | |1000 | Go To Jukebox | |1000 | Go To Practice Mode | |1000 | Go To Set Pieces Screen | |1000 | Go To Tournament Creator Mode | |1000 | Go To Tournament Mode | |2000 | 5 Game Win Streak (Career) | |2000 | Beat A 5 star team | |2000 | Beat A Rival Team | |2000 | Get A Clean Sheet | |2000 | Play A Football Fusion match | |4000 | Qualify For Europe | |4000 | Play Online | |6000 | Create A Player | |6000 | Get Your Team Promoted | |6000 | Score A Hat Trick | |6000 | Win A Match With A National Team | |6000 | Win A PK Shootout | |6000 | Win by 5+ Goals | |6000 | Win The Austrian OFB Cup | |6000 | Win The Austrian Bundesliga | |6000 | Win The Belgian FA Cup | |6000 | Win The Belgian League | |6000 | Win The Brazilian Cup | |6000 | Win The Brazilian League | |6000 | Win The LDV Vans Trophy (England) | |6000 | Win The Community Shield (England) | |6000 | Win The Supercopa (Spain) | |6000 | Win The Copa de España (Spain) | |6000 | Win The Coppa Nazionale (Italy) | |6000 | Win The Coupe de France | |6000 | Win The Coupe de la Ligue (France) | |6000 | Win The DONG Cup | |6000 | Win The Danish Superligaen | |6000 | Win The Deutscher Pokal (Germany) | |6000 | Win The Dt. Super-Cup (Germany) | |6000 | Win The Dutch Cup | |6000 | Win The Dutch Eredivisie | |6000 | Win The ECC | |6000 | Win The EFA | |6000 | Win Football League Champ | |6000 | Win Football League One | |6000 | Win Football League Two | |6000 | Win The European Super Cup | |6000 | Win The English Cup | |6000 | Win The Scottish FA Cup | |6000 | Win The FA Premier League | |6000 | Win The German Bundesliga 1 | |6000 | Win The German Bundesliga 2 | |6000 | Win The K-League | |6000 | Win The League Cup (England) | |6000 | Win French Division 1 | |6000 | Win The French Division 2 | |6000 | Win The Mexican Apertura | |6000 | Win The MLS | |6000 | Win The MLS Open Cup | |6000 | Win The Norwegian FA Cup | |6000 | Win The Norwegian Tippeligaen | |6000 | Win The Portuguese Cup | |6000 | Win The Portuguese SuperLiga | |6000 | Win The Scottish Premier League | |6000 | Win The Italian Serie A | |6000 | Win The Italian Serie B | |6000 | Win The Spanish Primera | |6000 | Win The Spanish Segunda | |6000 | Win The Supercoppa Nazionale (Italy)| |6000 | Win The Swedish Allsvenskan | |6000 | Win The Swedish Cup | |6000 | Win The Swiss Axpo Super League | |6000 | Win The Swiss Cup | |6000 | Win The Trophee Champions (France) | |6000 | 10 Game Win Streak (Career) | |6000 | Win The Americas Club Championship | |6000 | Win The Mexican Clausura | |6000 | Win The Copa del Rey | |8000 | Score A Goal With A Created Player | |8000 | Complete Career Mode | |10000 | Become A 5 Star Manager | |_______|______________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.b MY FIFA 2005 TROPHY ROOM You can view all the cups that you can win in the game. I'm not sure but maybe if you win them all you get a nice reward. You can complete these in Career Mode only, tournament mode doesn't get you any cups at all. Tournaments don't work because what happens with the tournaments is that all the game does is set up a custom tournament that is specifically set up to play each team twice, have 38 games etc. Therefore the game doesn't recognise the tournament as having a cup and you get nothing, which I found out the hard way... *======\ 5. TIPS | *======/ 5.a GAMEPLAY TIPS Use chips to easily beat the goalie. When one-on-one with the goalie press L+B to pop the ball over the goalies head. It's usually harder to shoot around him for some reason but be warned; I've had chips beat the goalie but then a defender has ran in and cleared the ball away on the goal line. Use the fake shot. I must admit I don't often use this(probably once every three games) but when I do I find it very useful. One time I got a penalty because the keeper mauled me but not much else has happened. I prefer the chip over this but the fake shot is definitely a trick worth having up your sleeve. Practice for better results. Don't think that practice is a waste if time- it's actually very useful in how to beat the keeper one-on-one and how to score from set-pieces. Practice crosses and work out what all the tricky moves are so that you can add more dimensions to your game. Off the Ball mode is still effective. Why it is no where near as effective as last year Off the Ball mode can still be very handy to get the ball down field. This is how I do virtually all of my lobs, by cycling through to the player I want and not running them anywhere but just pressing X and heading the ball off. Get around defenders by using First Touch. When your striker is receiving a pass use first touch to get around his marker and open up the field. I like using this with player runs followed by a through ball and then the First Touch to advance on the defence. Use the tricky moves to get past defenders. If you have no one to pass to or just want to score an awesome individual goal use the C-stick to do a tricky move. They don't always work but when they do they generally open up a lot of space for you to run into. And also make sure you know what direction does what tricky move as otherwise your chances of getting around the defender is even lower. Hurdle over opponents. When an opponent tries to slide in and steal the ball off you try hurdling them by flicking the C-Stick back. This makes you flick the ball up and over the opponent. You can also pull off a awesome long range shot by once doing the hurdle letting the ball bounce once and then shooting. Do u-turns. What most beginners do is turn to face the goals as soon as they get the ball but if you run towards your goals and then slowly do a u-turn you should beat the defender. Turning straight towards goal does work but when under pressure use the u-turn manoeuvre. Draw out the goalie. Struggling to get your shots on target? Here's the solution. Instead of shooting when your one-on-one with the keeper, draw out the goalie and pass to another striker. The striker with the ball now should have the goalie far of his line and this should allow you to not have to use any direction when shooting. I like to do this with the 3-4-3, you have many options up front to pass to in that situation. If narrowly in the lead play keepings off. When in a must-win game and only winning by a goal with ten minutes to go change to a defensive formation like the 5-3-2(the one I use) and pass the ball around to any free player. If you don't have any options press B to boot the ball up the field or head back to your goalie. Pass to the stationary player in corners. Corners are fairly hard to score off if you head to the guys who run in to the ball, the keeper usually intercepts. Try the guy pushing his man around right in front of the goals, the goalie rarely intercepts him. To jostle effectively push the C-Stick in the direction of the defender repeatedly. Another way to score at corners without using the stationary man is to wait till the time metre has 4 bars left and then start running in towards the ball. Get the ball up the field as quickly as possible. Once you cause a turnover in defence move the ball as quickly as possible up to your strikers because there won't be as many opposition midfielders there to help out their defence. This works very well when they have three defenders and you have three strikers. The best way to do this is by using the remote receiver control and pressing lob straight away- this is the quickest route to your strikers and means you'll rarely lose the ball in the midfield. Have some variety. I know people who when playing against me use three moves; the normal pass, through ball and shoot/conservative tackle. From this I know they are never going to lob the ball so I stand in between the person who he is likely to pass the ball to and the passer. This is very easy to do and if you are one of the people who do this please use some variety to make the opponent second guess every move you make. Attack from the kick-off. I have a little tactic that I use every time I start the game, either after just conceding a goal or to start off the half. I always have three strikers so this is what I do: once I've restarted play I send the left striker on a run towards goals, pass to him, run forwards to the defence, sidestep the defender and score. This tactic works one in every three times and is very handy when you have just gone a goal down. Get to know how the computer plays. The computer basically has four ways of scoring, by crosses, by being direct and shooting into the top corner, set-pieces(corners, free kicks) and other ways that rarely happen(say, for example, it picks off a pass that two of your defenders are involved in). You can tell what type of way it's hoping to score in if the computer keeps passing the ball to it's wingers in the hope of drawing out your left/right back. Otherwise it will be trying to pass to a player in the box and score by shooting in the top corner. Don't boot the ball up the field with the goalie. When you have a goal kick or the keeper has picked up the ball don't boot the ball as far up the field as you can. I have found that you probably have a 50% chance of winning the ball from that situation. Instead, get the keeper to play a short ball to a defender along the ground or in the case of the keeper having the ball in his hands, throw the ball as far up the field as possible. From there you should be able to get the ball to your strikers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.b CAREER TIPS If you plan to change club don't buy any players in the January window. Because when you change club you take all your money with you, save up if you know you are going to change club at the end season. Then you can buy quality players for your new club without selling anyone! Rotate players to boost morale. A lot of players in one team means many people are going to miss out on playing. You can combat this by selling off your three or four reserves for one or two quality players. Give the back up goalie a go as well, they are hardly ever required but when you've already qualified for the next round of the ECC for example you should give him a shot. I give mine three to five appearances a season. Get rid of bench boys. If you have people who never ever play sell them and pick up one awesome player who will contribute. You probably only need five strikers, eight midfielders, eight defenders and two goalkeepers, any more and you've got too many players. Evenly distribute your manager points. Don't boost up one area of your staff, spread the love. I think fitness needs the most work but I still give some points to other areas. Medical staff doesn't need to be boosted as much as the others so maybe give that the least points but spread the rest around evenly. You can though give all your points to the one coach, because I'm pretty sure that after the coach goes up a level your players go up a skill point. I still share though. Always try to score as many goals as possible. Don't give up when your leading 3-0; the more goals you score the more points you get to give to your staff. Beating your rival heavily and winning by a couple of goals in Europe add more points than usual to your total. Play to the tactics you've set. Make sure you change the tactics to suit the style your going to play with. If you have three defenders no use having a pressing defence that uses the offside trap, you'll find your defenders will be all over the place giving your opposition many easy chances. Keep an eye on your job security. If your security meter is dangerously low(around 10%) then aim for 0-0 draws to raise the percentage by one or two percent. A good cup run will dramatically improve your security but an early exit can lose you as much as 10%. If you are in the English lower divisions an early exit in both cups can quickly turn 40% into 15%, especially if the board have high expectations. Buy young players. If you plan on being a team for two or three seasons sell some bench warmers for an awesome, young player. With the help of your skills coaches they will become even better and hopefully dominate on the pitch. I have compiled a list of players that are 23 or younger and have a skill level of at least 82. Just remember that these players will go up and down based on morale and that by the time your managerial prestige is good enough these players will be 3 or so years older. Take note that there aren't much goalkeepers here-most hit their peak when they are in their late twenties. From experience though I found that their skill goes up very easily when they are young. One of my goalkeepers went up ten in skill in three years to a total of 84. STRIKERS ______________________________________________________ | NAME | SKILL | AGE | CLUB | |________________|_______|_______|_____________________| | Adriano | 92 | 22 | Inter Milan | | D.Cisse | 90 | 23 | Liverpool | | J.Reyes | 88 | 21 | Arsenal | | D.Papadopoulos | 88 | 22 | Paninthiakos | | S.Etoo | 88 | 23 | Barcelona | | Luis Fabiano | 88 | 23 | FC Porto | | W.Rooney | 87 | 18 | Man Utd | | F.Torres | 87 | 20 | Atletico de Madrid | | M.Baros | 87 | 22 | Liverpool | | A.Cassano | 86 | 22 | Roma | | Robinho | 85 | 20 | Santos | | C.Tevez | 85 | 20 | Boca Juniors | | A.Gilardino | 85 | 22 | Parma | | Sergio Garcia | 84 | 21 | Levante | | J.Saviola | 84 | 22 | AS Monaco | | L.Donovan | 84 | 22 | San Jose | | L.Podolski | 83 | 19 | FC Cologne | | Nilmar | 83 | 20 | Internacional | | S.Maloney | 83 | 21 | Celtic | | Villa | 83 | 22 | Real Zaragoza | | Z.Ibrahimovic | 83 | 22 | Juventus | | Dagoberto | 82 | 21 | Paranaense | | J.Defoe | 82 | 21 | Tottenham | | R.van Persie | 82 | 21 | Arsenal | | Mantoras | 82 | 22 | Besiktas | | Portillo | 82 | 22 | Firenze | | Helder Postiga | 82 | 22 | FC Porto | | A.Smith | 82 | 23 | Man Utd | | I.Szabics | 82 | 23 | Stuttgart | |________________|_______|_______|_____________________| MIDFIELDERS ______________________________________________________________ | NAME | SKILL | AGE | POS | CLUB | |________________|_______|_______|_______|_____________________| | Kaka | 92 | 22 | CAM | AC Milan | | T.Rosicky | 91 | 23 | CAM | Borussia Dortmund | | Joaquin | 89 | 23 | RWM | Real Betis | | C.Ronaldo | 88 | 19 | RWM | Man Utd | | A.D'Allessandro| 88 | 23 | CAM | Wolfsburg | | B.Pedretti | 87 | 23 | CM | Marseille | | R.van der Vaart| 86 | 21 | CAM | Ajax | | A.Robben | 85 | 20 | LM | Chelsea | | Xabi Alonso | 85 | 22 | CM | Liverpool | | J.Cole | 85 | 22 | CAM | Chelsea | | M.Diarra | 85 | 23 | CM | Lyon | | W.Sneijder | 84 | 20 | LM | Ajax | | K.Kallstrom | 84 | 22 | CM | Rennes | | A.Hleb | 84 | 23 | CAM | Stuttgart | | Carlos Alberto | 83 | 19 | CAM | FC Porto | | M.Essien | 83 | 21 | RM | Lyon | | A.Motta | 83 | 22 | CM | Barcelona | | Arteta | 83 | 22 | CM | Real Sociedad | | Julio Baptista | 83 | 22 | CAM | Sevilla | | Diego | 82 | 19 | CAM | FC Porto | | Emre | 82 | 23 | LM | Inter Milan | |________________|_______|_______|_______|_____________________| DEFENDERS _______________________________________________________________ | NAME | SKILL | AGE | POS | CLUB | |_________________|_______|_______|_______|_____________________| | J.Terry | 89 | 23 | CB | Chelsea | | C.Metzelder | 89 | 23 | CB | Borussia Dortmund | | G.Seitaridis | 88 | 23 | RB | FC Porto | | K.Toure | 88 | 23 | CB | Arsenal | | A.Cole | 88 | 23 | LB | Arsenal | | G.Milito | 86 | 23 | CB | Real Zaragoza | | Pablo | 85 | 22 | CB | Atletico de Madrid | | P.Lahm | 84 | 20 | LWB | Stuttgart | | R.Bravo | 84 | 23 | CB | Real Madrid | | J.O'Shea | 84 | 23 | CB | Man Utd | | Z.Khizanishvilli| 83 | 22 | CB | Rangers | | A.Hinkel | 83 | 22 | RB | Stuttgart | | P.Mexes | 82 | 22 | CB | Roma | | P.Evra | 82 | 23 | LB | AS Monaco | | J.Riise | 82 | 23 | LB | Liverpool | |_________________|_______|_______|_______|_____________________| GOALKEEPERS _______________________________________________________ | NAME | SKILL | AGE | CLUB | |_________________|_______|_______|_____________________| | I.Casillas | 94 | 23 | Real Madrid | | P.Cech | 86 | 22 | Chelsea | | Victor Valdes | 86 | 22 | Barcelona | | Reina | 86 | 22 | Villareal | | C.Itandje | 82 | 21 | Lens | | T.Weise | 82 | 22 | Kaiserslautern | | Fabio | 82 | 23 | Vasco Da Gama | |_________________|_______|_______|_____________________| *======================\ 6. FORMATIONS & TACTICS | *======================/ 6.a FORMATIONS Here I will list all the formations, give them my rating, mention their strong and weak points and when to use them. Ratings are out of 10. Attack - Rating for how many attacking options there is and how they are positioned. Midfield - Rating for the midfielders positioning and how well they forward and back. Defence - Rating for the amount of defenders present and how well they are structured. Balance - Rating for how balanced the amount of defenders, midfielders and attackers are. Overall - The average rating for all the categories above. ********** Formation: 4-4-2 This is the most common formation you'll see in the game. Many teams use it and for me, that is it's ultimate weakness. I don't seem to score a lot when using this; I can't get any run out of the midfield. Try the 4-1-2-1-2 for basically the same thing but with more attacking options. A: 7 M: 7 D: 7 B: 8 OVERALL: 7 ********** Formation: 4-1-2-1-2 I find this formation one of the best in the game. You have the usual four defenders a man in front of them who will do a lot of the tackling. Make your best midfielder the CAM as he is usually the player doing the final through pass to the strikers. Play through the middle of the park, you have no wingers here. A: 8 M: 8 D: 7 B: 9 OVERALL: 8 ********** Formation: 4-3-3 Definitely one of the better formations as you have a lot of attacking players yet a solid four-man defence. You may struggle to get the ball of the computer when it's passing the ball around as your more than likely out-numbered. Play through balls through the defence for the best results. A: 9 M: 6 D: 7 B: 7 OVERALL: 7 ********** Formation: 3-4-3 Very similar to the one above just this one has one of the defenders now a midfielder. Three defenders can do the job though, especially with four midfielders there to help them out. Don't pass it around inside your defensive half too much as a mistake could prove costly. A: 9 M: 7 D: 5 B: 7 OVERALL: 7 ********** Formation: 4-5-1 You'll find it very hard to score here. The only forward is lonely as ever, with the fifth midfielder being in-front of the defence. You can slowly build up an attack as you have the midfield numbers to win out but it will be most likely some individual brilliance from your striker that will get you on the scoresheet. A: 4 M: 9 D: 8 B: 5 OVERALL: 6.5 ********** Formation: 4-4-1-1 Very similar to the 4-4-2, just with the defenders in line vertically in the centre of the field rather than horizontal. I don't like the 4-4-2 much because if the four flat midfielders and only two strikers and the exact same thing is here. Try something else like 4-3-1-2. A: 6 M: 7 D: 7 B: 8 OVERALL: 7 ********* Formation: 4-3-1-2 A use this formation occasionally, it gives you a solid defence plus the guy who is right in behind the forwards(these players are great, they feed the ball constantly to the forwards). You won't be undermanned in midfield either. A: 8 M: 8 D: 7 B: 9 OVERALL: 8 ********** Formation: 5-4-1 The 5-4-1 is the formation people use when they don't want to concede any goals or are hoping to play out a nil all draw. There really isn't much else you can use this play for, your going to need a Thierry Henry or Raul to score as a moment of individual brilliance will certainly be required. A: 5 M: 7 D: 9 B: 4 OVERALL: 6 ********** Formation: 3-4-1-2 This formation is definitely worth considering. You have plenty of midfielders who of course can help out the three defenders and the man right in behind the strikers. You can use the cross and the direct route to goal, it's a very flexible formation. A: 8 M: 9 D: 6 B: 7 OVERALL: 7.5 ********** Formation: 5-3-2 At first glance this looks like a fairly defensive formation but it's not. The two wingbacks provide a lot of run and will be at there best when crossing and playing passes to the midfield. Two strikers can cause some havoc but you'll need to pass it to your wingbacks and your three midfielders for the majority of attacks. A: 7 M: 7 D: 9 B: 7 OVERALL: 7.5 ********** Formation: 5-2-3 This is a very good formation to use. You don't need five defenders either-midfielders can fill in the wingback positions so amount of fit defenders should never be a problem. These guys will basically be midfielders any way as they get forward very frequently. There aren't really any problems here, everything is very nicely balanced. A: 9 M: 6 D: 9 B: 8 OVERALL: 8 ********** Formation: 4-2-3-1 An OK formation though it is a fair bit more defensive than most. You have four defenders, which is plenty but then you also have two defensive midfielders and only one striker! The midfield is loaded though but it's poorly structured and I would only use this for counter attacking. A: 5 M: 7 D: 7 B: 8 OVERALL: 7 ********* Formation: 3-6-1 This is a very attacking formation, despite the lone striker. he has two guys just behind him and then wingers as well. You can play a very good counter-attacking game against some defences. The defence is fine here as well because of the two defensive midfielders in front of the back three. A: 7 M: 9 D: 7 B: 8 OVERALL: 8 ********** Formation: 3-5-2 I don't think this formation is any different to the 3-4-1-2. Have a look there for my thoughts on that formation. A: 8 M: 9 D: 6 B: 7 OVERALL: 7.5 Obviously these are all my personal ratings after testing them out. You may have realised that all the scores are within 1.5 in the overall score. That's because basically every formation has a weakness and strength, balancing out the scores. Look for what you are good at(say, for example, you rarely concede goals) and pick a formation that isn't strong in that area. This should make you firstly improve in that area and secondly give you another player in a position where he is better off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.b TACTICS These are all the options in tactics plus I've included when to use them etc. ********* Mentality Choose what style of play your going to use. If you are concentrating on keeping a clean sheet then choose defence, select attacking if you want to score as many goals as you can and conservative and if you aren't focusing on either attacking or defending select normal. I think that all these options do is make your computer controlled team-mates get into more attacking places or sit back depending on what you've chosen. ********* Attacking These are your options that describe what the lead up to your goals usually is: Possession- You play the ball around for a while to create an opening. Long Passes- You quickly get the ball out of defence using only a couple if passes to your forwards. Basically counter-attacking. Wing Play- Select this if you use the wings to cross the ball in to your strikers. ******* Defence You can choose either pressing or contain. Pressing means that your defence will move forwards to the strikers, while contain means your defence will sit off and wait for the forwards to come to them. Use pressing if you have a solid defence but if you only have three not-so-good defenders use contain. ************ Offside Trap The offside trap is a move defences do to try and get the opposition offside. What happens is all of your defenders will move forwards at once right before a pass is played by the opposition to a forward who is in line with defence. It's great if it works but if not the defender usually streaks away. You can have it either on or off but I usually have it off. ************* Corner Takers Self-explanatory but I usually have my most skilled left footer taking the left corner and my most skilled right footer taking the right. ********************** Free Kicks & Penalties I get my best shooter to take both of these. ******* Captain Choose who the team's captain is. This can effect the previous captains morale for the worse if you do change it. *======\ 7. FAQS | *======/ Q. WHEN YOU HAVE A FREE KICK AROUND THE GOALS IF THE MENU DOESN'T POP UP CAN I STILL PASS THE BALL? A. No, sometimes the menu will appear when you want it to and other times it won't, you have to shoot if no menu appears. Q. IS THERE A WAY TO START A CAREER WITH ONE OF THE TOP TEAMS? A. Yes. It's not easy though and requires a bit of luck. You can do it by lowering the amount of stars the team is. To do this you can change the formation to 3-5-2 and create 4 players with a rating of 10. Put one of them as a striker, two in midfield and one in defence. Put the worst team on that you can and try to get the teams rating to 1 star. I have tries this with Premier League teams though and this didn't work so you might need a full team of created players. Also, if you put your favourite team as the club you want to manage you usually get an offer from them earlier than normal. Q. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO GET THE COMMENTATORS TO USE SPANISH, I HAVE CHANGED THE LANGUAGE TO SPANISH BUT THE COMMENTATORS STILL USE ENGLISH? A. I don't know, I can't even change my game to Spanish(I think) because I have the PAL version. Someone has told me that if you have a PS2 you can change the language on the PS2 system settings screen. Thanks to Aaron for that. As for the GCN, I don't think you acn change it all. Q. HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WAIT TO CONTROL A TOP TEAM? A. This all depends on how much cups and games you win. As a guess, I'd say roughly three seasons if you've won six or more cups in that time. It's fairly random and to my knowledge you need a managerial prestige of around 2.5 stars to get most big teams. Another factor is that if the team you want to control has had a good season they are less unlikely to ask you to manage them. Q. CAN YOU HELP ME WITH CORNERS? THE KEEPER KEEPS INTERCEPTING THE CROSS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. A. The way I do corners is just to pass to the stationary guy and jostle your opponent. Choose your set-pieces so that this guy is right in front of the goals, not on a hard angle. To jostle effectively hit the C-stick in the direction of the defender continually BUT make sure you are in the circle where the ball is about to land or the keeper will intercept the cross. Q. WHAT IS THE BEST TEAM YOU CAN GET IN THE GAME? A. Here it is: 3-6-1 formation T.Henry R.Makaay R.van Nistelrooy Ronaldinho F.Totti P.Veira Z.Zidane Lucio A.Nesta S.Campbell G.Buffon Subs: O.Kahn, J.Stam, S.Gerrard, Kaka, A.Shevchenko Reserves: I.Casillas, L.Thuram, R.Ferdinand, R.Giggs, R.Pires, P.Aimar, Adriano, A.Del Piero Q. WHAT IS THE BEST TEAM IN THE GAME? A. AC Milan are, although only slightly over Arsenal who are also a five-star team. These two are the only five-star teams in the game. Q. HOW DO I PERFORM A BICYCLE KICK? A. Bicycle kicks are rather hard to perform as they require many things to go your way. Go to practice and just keep on sending in crosses. To perform them though, you need to have a good player(try Wayne Rooney- the computer constantly gets him to do it even though he can't in real life). The cross needs to be very accurate- hopefully to a player who is unmarked and has the ball ever-so-slightly behind him. Do a normal header shot and aim as well as you can because getting a bicycle kick to actually be performed is the easy bit; getting a shot on target and then past the keeper is the hard part. Q. WHAT DO ALL THE ABBREVIATIONS FOR POSITIONS STAND FOR? A. Here's a list of the more complicated positions: CF-Center Forward- A forward who is not as far upfront compared to a striker. CAM-Central Attacking Midfield- Usually is in between the midfielders and the strikers. RWM & LWM-Right/Left Wing Midfield- Plays on the wing, the widest position available. CDM-Central Defensive Midfield- Usually in between the midfielders and the defenders. RWB & LWB-Right/Left Wing Back- An attacking, wide defender, only really found in formations with five defenders. SW-Sweeper- A defender who defends even deeper than a CB. *============\ 8. CONCLUSION | *============/ I hope this guide helped you in some way. Hopefully I'll update this soon and hopefully frequently. ;) Here's my email Email me when you want to- know something not in this FAQ contribute something to this FAQ put this on your site correct me on grammar or information give me tips to improve my FAQ thank me Just be patient, I might not get back to you quickly so don't get annoyed. I will not reply if you ask something covered in the FAQ already, or something just plain stupid(it happens). *=================\ 9. VERSION HISTORY | *=================/ 23/10/2004 - I done all the Formations and Tactics area, all of Career Mode, a Version .6 few tips and some of the MY FIFA 2005 things. 29/10/2004 - Thanks to Syxx676 I added all the objectives. Otherwise a lean Version .7 update. 18/11/2004 - Added the young players bit, a few FAQS, fixed up a few things Version .9 and a couple of tips. 07/01/2005 - I have now basically completed the guide; there isn't much else Version 1 to add apart from transfer updates, but I don't know that I'll put that in, it's hard work. If you want me to put something else in here e-mail me and I might do it. This update all I added was FAQs and several tips. *==========\ 10. CREDITS | *==========/ I would like to thank the following people: -CJayC for having a great site that allows us to help people and discuss gaming and other stuff, like football(soccer). -Syxx676 for giving me basically all the objectives. -Keith for telling me about the hurdle and shoot move. -Tragon for informing me about using running guys at corners. -My brother for reading over it and for doing some other minor things. -You, for reading this FAQ and even more so those of you who have contacted me. *============\ 11. COPYRIGHT | *============/ This FAQ is copyright(c) TheMagicMushroom22 and is only permitted to be shown on: Gamefaqs.com Cheatplanet.com. SPOnG.com If you wish to use this guide on your site send me an email first. Do not use this guide for anything but private use unless you have my permission. All trademarks and copyrights are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.