A great tip is to use this skill in combination with an explosive exit move. It can really give you an advantage to shake loose from an opponent. You can make a hard stop anywhere on the field. If you hold on to the R2/RT as you stop, your player will transition into a shield move.

Stop the Ball – Facing Goal

This is a great little skill that can really shake your opponent and give you a good look at the goal or just give you some space to work in. Not many are aware of the advantage you can gain by simply stopping and squaring your shoulders towards the goal. In the arena, work on this skill before taking a finishing touch and watch your accuracy greatly improve. In the passing section, a graphic shows how you can increase your when passing in the 10 to 2 o’clock position of the direction you are facing. The shooting accuracy is heavily dependent on your player’s motion and direction, so if you are coming in off balance at full pace and more than likely feel you will just launch the ball over the net, use this skill to increase your chances of getting the ball on goal.

Pace Control

Pace control basically does just what it says. It gives you the ability to have a much more managed movement velocity for your player with the ball. This function does slow down your player, but gives them a bit more control over the ball. The dribbling rating of your player does affect his ability to control the ball effectively.

Pace Control – Facing Goal

The same basic concept but turns your player to face the goal. So now not only is your player moving at a good pace to maintain control of the ball, but is also positioned to greatly increase the accuracy of his next movement.

Sprinting

This sounds obvious, but when in possession of the ball you really have to think about how to elude your opponent. Besides always moving in a sprint, be sure to mix it up, from jog to quick burst of speed. Remember that on a sprint you have the ball further away from you, and when shooting, your accuracy is greatly diminished. A good rule of thumb is to let go of the button to break out of a sprint and into a jog to really increase your accuracy for shooting and other skill moves. Do not forget to mix up your movement; the less predictable you are, the tougher it is for your opponent to get possession.

Knock On

The Knock on is very simple but also very effective. It gives you just enough advantage that makes a big difference in your ability to maintain possession. When moving with the ball, instead of just using the default dribble (which can be easily read by your opponent), be creative and knock the ball in a direction and then change your player’s pace and move quickly in that direction. It is very tough for a player to get back in front of you once you have moved beyond them. Use this to set yourself up for other things to transition into like that big shot (or fake shot), a skill move, or a great pass.

Tricks

Refer to our Skill Moves section for details on each and every trick in the game. Fundamentally, it is an awesome tool to not only create that highlight reel to send to your friend, but also is designed to really get you by your opponent. The key to successful tricks is to always keep your player unpredictable to the opponent. A little body feint, or even small gestures might just give you enough advantage to get beyond him and through to your next task at hand. Of course it is even more fun to humiliate your opponent and watch it in slow motion on the instant replay screen. With practice, every gamer has the potential to throw down Ronaldinho-type skills on the ball.

Instigate a Forward Run

This is a very effective tool to open up a target man for a pass, or even just to draw an opponent out of some very attractive looking field space to set up for an attack. One trick is to trigger your teammate on a run and then immediately sprint to the space they just left (which usually is wide open since the attention was on the man making the run). You have to get in the habit of using this to make it effective, so experiment with it in your practice games and see how you can best use it to your advantage. Watch how the opponent reacts to the run and use that against him.