Fifa 08 Practical Tips – Part III – Corner Kicks

As it was said more than once, FIFA 08 is a great and very realistic football simulator. The gameplay is improved, the AI is a serious opponent which is hard to beat even on the easiest level. Scoring goals is not an easy task at all. While mastering offensive and defensive tactics (described in "Fifa08 tactical tips - Part I" and "Fifa 08 tactical tips - Part II") and experimenting with offensive and defensive mentality (see "Fifa 08 Tactics – Part IV") is important, there are some in-game tricks to get an edge over your computer or human opponent. Taking advantage of the throw-ins ("Fifa08 Practical Tips – Part I") and delivering a successful goal kicks (("Fifa 08 Practical Tips – Part II") have been covered in the previous articles. Now we deal with corners.

First of all, as said in article "Fifa08 Tactics – part III", you should decide whether you are going to curve you corner towards the ball or away from it. Choosing the kick-taker with the opposing leg to the corner place (i.e. left-legged kicker for the right-side corner) will curve the ball goalwards. You can alter you defined corner taker by pressing and holding the "Through ball" button. A name of the kicker (along with his abilities and preferred foot) will appear in the corner of the screen. By pressing the arrow keys you can change the corner taker.

After you have chosen your kicker, you can take the high corner (by pressing the "Lob" button) or low corner ("Pass" button). If you have decided to go for a cross, try to deliver the ball close to the keeper's area front line. After kicking the ball, switch the player immediately to control the heading player. With the right timing you can beat the defender and be the first to get to the ball. When directing your header, always aim to the near corner. Remember – targeting low corner has better chances of the ball going on-target, but also a greater chance that with gthe goalie beaten a defender will stop the ball on the goal line. Targeting upper corner has bigger chances of the ball going off-target and out. If you opted for a low cross – the best place to target is the closest corner of the keeper's area.

There is also a possibility to "Call for a second player" (as it was proposed for the goal kick). Computer does it very often. Pressing the (default) "C" button will bring one of your players close to the corner and a quick short pass can give him a good place for a cross. Delivered in the right manner it will have good chances of scoring.