With the amount of fouls that occur in FIFA 08, it is extremely useful to know how to score free kicks. Not only do they look spectacular and will make your opponent lay off the fouls, but they are very satisfying to score. They are a bit difficult to get the hang of, but the time spent learning and practicing is surely worth it.
Dipping Free Kick (20-25 yards out)
I would call the dipping free kick the most effective of all free kicks. The problem with just shooting with free kicks in FIFA 08 is that if you give the shot enough power to get over the wall, they will also go over the net too. It is nearly impossible to score a free kick from just holding the shoot button alone. To solve this problem, we want to apply dip to our free kicks so they make it over the wall and drop enough after passing the wall to go into the net. Keep in mind that although I recommend this shot from distances of 20-25 yards, it is possible to score from past 25 yards, but you need to be extremely precise with the power as it needs to go very close to the absolute top corner to beat the keeper.
First, you need to aim your shot properly. There are four scenarios for aiming:
| Preferred Foot of Kick-Taker | Position of Goalkeeper and Wall | Where to Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Right | Wall: Right, Goalkeeper: Left | Aim directly towards the top right corner, maybe even a little bit to the right where it looks like it would hit the post. |
| Right | Wall: Left, Goalkeeper: Right | Aim just above the head of the last man in the left side of the wall, maybe a little bit to the right of his head. |
| Left | Wall: Right, Goalkeeper: Left | Aim just above the head of the last man in the right side of the wall, maybe a little bit to the left of his head. |
| Left | Wall: Left, Goalkeeper: Right | Aim towards the top left corner, maybe even a little bit to the left where it looks like it would hit the post. |
The hardest part about this is getting the power right. You want to hold down the shoot button just enough that it is all still green, but just about to be yellow. You can still get by with just a bit of yellow though. See below for the proper power for the dipping shot:
The next part is simple. As you are finishing powering up your shot, you want to hold the left analog stick straight up. This ensures that your shot will achieve the dip it needs to drop into the goal.
Curling Free Kick (18-25 yards)
Although this can be scored from almost identical distances as the dipping free kick, I would usually prefer the dipping shot as it seems more accurate. However, curled shots are very nice to look at and are still very effective, provided your player has good curve and power stats. The Power stat helps as it helps gets the ball to the goal before it has risen over the bar.
There are two scenarios for aiming the Curved Shot:
| Preferred Foot of Kick-Taker | Position of Goalkeeper and Wall | Where to Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Right | Wall: Right, Goalkeeper: Left | Aim just next to the last man in the right side of the goal. You will need to experiment to find out how far away it needs to be to just get around the wall without hitting the last man. |
| Left | Wall: Left, Goalkeeper: Right | Aim just next to the man in the left side of the goal. |
Power is not much of an issue here. You really want to just tap the shoot button as quickly as you can. It should be about 3/4ths of what you would power up for the dipping free kick, see image below. This is because there is no dip in the shot and it will go over quickly if you power it up as much as you did for the dipping free kick. This is why having a powerful kick-taker is useful, as it gives the shot power while keeping it low. As you are finishing powering up your shot, hold down the analog stick in the direction you want to curve the ball.
Driven Free Kick (18-20 yards out)
The driven free kick is useful only if you are very close to the edge of the box. I'd say as a general rule, inside of the arc in front of the penalty box, but it is possible to score from outside there. Basically, you should aim to the side of the goal that is not blocked off by the wall. To make your shot driven, hold down LB for Xbox or L1 for Playstation. Aim directly into the corner, as far as where it looks like it would hit off the inside of the post.
The power is a bit iffy here. You want to give it enough power to go into or near to the top corner. Give it about the same amount of power as the dipping free-kick (see image above) but remember, you must be very precise about this as if you give it just a bit too much power than needed, it will bomb over the bar.
Practicing Free Kicks
Unfortunately, there is not a practice mode in the next-gen versions of FIFA 08 (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) which I would say most FIFA gamers have. To solve this problem and practice free kicks, you must have either two controllers or an online buddy to help you out.
Start a game, pick two teams, one of which has a decent free-kick taker you would like to use. Basically, position yourself where you would like to take the free kick to practice with one controller. Pick up the other controller and foul the player. And there you go, take a shot. If you don't have a second controller, find a friend online who would be willing to play the role of the second controller, or maybe you two could take turns.