Fifa 09 Tips and Knowledge Base

Some of us find it frustrating to when your opponent uses high pressure and aggresson tactics to close down on your player (holding X/A); leaving no room to pass or maneuver. Most commonly, these type of tactics are used by fast running teams.
For me, to make room for my players, I normally use pass and move tactic to free up my strikers or centre forward. I will describe the steps as follows:

Step 1: When your forward or winger got the ball, your opponent using high pressure/aggression will sprint towards your player who has the ball. As soon as you noticed this type of play tactics, do a quick accurately short pass to your nearest player by holding L1/LB+pass button.

Step 2: If the pass is successfull, your opponent player (still holding X/A) will run towards your other player who has the ball thus freely your forward or winger player.

Step 3: Depending on the space and angle, you can execute a ground through ball or a high through ball to your forward or winger who has made the run. Of course you can ignore the pass to the player who has made the run depending on your players positioning.

One thing to note is pass and move is a form of attacking tactics. You should not do it too often in the game to tired your players, unless they have good stamina.

The pass and move tactic is shown in the start of the above video clip. Enjoy!

If EAsports video site is slow, try the following YouTube video link:
YouTube video: Pass and Move

For the lower rated teams, the strikers finishing skill are often in the 60-70 range; that is to say that will be more difficult to score using poor finishing players.
However, I found that it is still possible to score effectively using the lobbing skill (L1/LB+shoot button) for poor finisher players.

Basically, the accuracy of the lob will largely depend on 3 factors.

1. The lob will be easier to control and accurate when your player is not sprinting.
2. The power of the lob will depends on the distance from goal. Controlling the power of the lob is the most crucial factor in scoring. The arena is the best place to practice.
3. The lob will be easier to score and not intercepted by the keeper if it is aim at a angle. For example: If a keeper is dashing straight towards your player, try to aim to lob at an angle from the keeper.


This video which I scored against Man Utd using Valenegra demonstrate the effectiveness of the lobbing skill.

When I visited the forums, very often the topic of how to head down a header and scoring from a corner arises.
Luckily for Fifa 09 consoles versions (not PC), the corner scoring success is not fixed even if you use the same tactics. That is to say sometimes your corner headers find the back of the net or sometimes it just ballooned up the sky or being intercepted by the keeper.
For the fun for everyone, here I will share my secrets of scoring from a corner header. Some of you may know or have your secrets that work for you. The following is just a guide for those who wish to try it out.

Scoring from corner tips:
Step 1. Aim the cross near the far post but not too near as to go over the bar or easily intercepted by the keeper.
Step 2. Power up the cross using the cross button such that the ball will go slightly farther than the far post to avoid being intercepted by keepers like Van Der Sar (Man Utd). The power bar should turn slightly red (68%) to avoid being intercepted by the keeper.
Step 3. When the ball is about to land, aim your header direction and press "X/A" pass button, not the shoot button. The pass button will make the header softer and more accurate.

Of the 3 steps, step 2 is considered the more difficult skill to execute because the landing accuracy of the ball is the most important factor in a corner kick.

Many would find it difficult to cross and score even with assisted turn on. When I started to play Fifa 09, I too have difficulty crossing the ball. Most often, the ball will either fly too far to no man's land or too near the goal keeper.

The easiest and effective way to cross is still to have assisted on. If you like manual or semi, then you will need to practice the power and direction of the cross for sometime before mastering it.

I use assisted crossing to avoid the stress and strain to aim and power-up the cross. The tips to good crossing require your striker to run almost in-line with the crosser/winger. To have your striker run in-line with the crosser (if the crosser is high-up the field), press L1/LB to command your strikers or forwards to make a run.

When in-line, always use the double tap cross button. This will bring the ball lower and even curled towards your strikers. As for single tap button crossing, I do not have have good results though.

Another effective method is to do a early cross by pressing L1 + cross button just before the penalty box. Most of the time, the early cross will find a striker to head the ball. Early cross is really much more effective than single tap cross. If you don't believe, try it and you will agree with me.

Heading and scoring:
Set auto-switching to at least 1% (one-click of the joystick). I find that if auto-switching is set to 0%, the forwards in the penalty box does not react fast enough even though the ball is landing towards him.
Especially for fast and near crossing, the 1% auto-switchng does help you to select the player automatically to head or kick the ball in.
To score when a cross is made, always use the direction stick to aim when you press the kick button. This is to prevent the goal keeper from making a easy save from your header.
As to when to press the shoot button, I would say press it just before the ball lands on your player. Double quick tapping on the shoot button is effective too.
Personally, I felt that one should "invent" your own personal effective shooting/heading techniques in crossing.


Lastly, it is also possible to score from a cross although the chances to succeed is low. Watch this amazing crossing video by me where I did a double tap on the cross button and the ball just curled into the net.

Objective: To fully maximize a player attributes exp points based on the position and role he is playing.
If you are editing a ST (striker) attributes. Your aim is to move all the unnecessary attributes (e.g. defending, mentality) of a player to a temporary attribute (e.g. goalkeeper) and then move the exp points to the player key role attributes (e.g. attacking, power, movement, skill).

Key notes: It is definitely easier to make a high attributes player like Ronaldo to become 95 or above (99) because he has higher overall attributes exp points.

Below are the key attributes of a player for each position. It is also important to play your player in the correct position to increase your player stats.
For example, a ST will decrease his stats if you make him play a out of position role as a CB.

CB - Marking, Standing Tackle
SW - Positioning, Marking, Standing Tackle
RB/LB - Marking, Standing Tackle
RWB/LWB - Marking, Standing Tackle
CDM - Positioning, Ball Control, Short Passing, Marking, Standing Tackle
CM - Short Passing, Long Passing
CAM - Ball Control, Dribbling, Short Passing
RM/LM - Ball Control, Crossing, Dribbling, Short Passing
RW/LW - Acceleration, Crossing, Dribbling
CF - Ball Control, Dribbling, Finishing
RF/LF - Dribbling, Finishing
ST - Acceleration, Finishing, Heading Acc., Shot Power

Vision: A player with high Vision will try to run in to open spaces to create chances.

Tactical Awareness: If you have set your teams tactic to short passing and you have a player with high Tactical Awareness, he'll be closer to the ball more often than a player with low Tactical Awareness.

Balance: The higher the Balance value is, the higher is the chance a player will maintain his balance after a physical challenge.

Strength: The higher the strength value is, the higher the chance is that a player win the physical challenge and holding on to the ball.

Currently, the team rating of your opponents you see online cannot be trusted due to a server latency glitch in updating the team ratings online after you have modified your team.

How to do it:
Remove a few gold players with any bronze players in the team temporary and then visit the UT trading sections. Next, go back to "Team management" section to check your new lower team rating. If your team rating is now lower, swap back your gold players back to the team and proceed to play an online match. By doing this, the system will still show the lower team ratings to your opponents, thus "fooling" your opponent.

The right analog stick knock-on is most useful to execute a fast movement towards the knock-on direction.

It is most effective when the right analog stick is flick towards the intended direction just before the ball reaches your player.

By doing the above, it allows the ball to flick into the knock-on direction and also also allowing your player to skip pass a defender marking.

Initially, you might find it difficult to knock the ball into the direction you want. However, with more practice, you will be able to execute this "deadly" knock-on skill with ease.

Knowing this glitch and actually using this glitch is entirely up to you. My advise is not to use this glitch unless you wish to leave a bad name for yourself.

Prerequisite:
You will need to have at least one saved formations in your Fifa 09 online locker first. example: 4-4-2 CUSTOM 1
It is best to have more saved formations in your Fifa 09 locker to get more Classic XI players but you can start with one saved formation file too (see step 12 for reason).

Objective:
To transfer the Classic XI players to the "International Selections" which will then allow you to search Classic XI players in "Club Transfers".

Steps:
1. Go to "Team Management >> Select Rest of World >> Classic XI"

2. Select "Formations", select "Edit", select "Back", and save the formation to a new slot. Example: 3-4-3 CUSTOM 5.

3. Set the current Classic XI formation to the saved slot from step 2. Example: 3-4-3 CUSTOM 5

4. Exit the Classic XI team management and go to "FIFA 09 Locker" under "Online game modes >> My FIFA 09 Online >> FIFA 09 Locker

5. Press L1/LB to select "Formations" in your FIFA 09 Locker.

6. Select any saved formation file to download. Choose "Download".

7. When you are prompted to save the file, select the to overwrite the saved slot "3-4-3 CUSTOMS 5" in step 2.

8. Exit the FIFA 09 Locker and go back to the "Classic XI" team management.

9. Select "SQUAD" and if there are strange -1619823 numeric codes and orange color circles, then the glitch has been triggered. If you do not see the orange color circles and the negative numbers, you will need to repeat step 1 again.

10. Exit the "Classic XI" team management and go to "Manage Teams >> Transfers".

11. Select "International Selections:". Now, you are trying to find the Classic XI players by country.

12. For example, you are trying to find "Cantona" who is in France. Select France and you will be see him and perhaps another Classic XI France player.
From here, some explanation is required. You can only see 1 or 2 Classic XI players from each country (using R1/RB to change country). To transfer more Classic XI players to your International team, you will need to repeat step 1 to 13.
This is because you only get a few players at a time. To get more players, you just keep downloading a new/different formation from your "FIFA 09 Locker" and then saving it over the Classics XI saved custom formation slot.(e.g. Example: 3-4-3 CUSTOM 5.)

13. Now select "Cantona" (example only) and move him to your France International team.

14. Once you have done, that you can also do the same for the "Brazil" team (optional).

15. When you have done the above, you can make "Club Transfer". Select any club team.

16. Select "Search >> Detailed". Min. Overall: 85 and Max. Overall: 100. If you cannot find any classic players, do a search by player name. For example, if you searched by player name "zico", you should be able to him in the search results.

17. You should be able to see your Classic player in the search results. Make the transfer to your intended club.

Jan Koller 6 ft 8 in
Peter Crouch 6 ft 7 in
Nikola Zigic 6 ft 7in
Zeljko Kalac 6 ft 6 in
Orlando Engelaar 6 ft 5 in
Zlatan Ibrahimovic 6 ft 4 in
Morike Sako 6 ft 8 in
Paolo Acerbis (GK) 6 ft 7 in
Brede Hangeland 6 ft 5 in
John Carew 6 ft 4 in
Mertesacker 6ft 6 in
Z. Knight 6 ft 6 in
D. Wheater 6 ft 5 in
Luca Toni 6 ft 5 in
Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues 6 ft 6 in
Jussi Jaskalinen is 6 ft 3 in
Emmanuel adabayor 6 ft 3 in
Christoph Metzelder 6 ft 4.5 in
Tim Browski 6 ft 4.5 in
Daniel Van Buyten 6 ft 5 in

Update: June 24th, 2AM GMT

It seems that we were a bit too thorough when it came to balancing the game and making certain cards hard to find. In fact, we were so successful that some of you have found it difficult to fully complete your collection.

Well, we continue to listen to you guys and we've tweaked player rarity for the rarest players to make it easier to complete your collections, and earn those all-important coins.

While it is not possible for us to address everything we read in these forums, we were able to adjust these rarities after some thorough investigations with the team. Thanks for all your feedback to date and Happy Hunting!

Servers will be updated at 6am GMT (10pm PDT). Downtime should be less than 1 minute.

This is my custom tactics. My opinion is that your formation doesn't really depends on your custom tactics. This tactics is suitable for fast counter attacks, good defensive tactics and flanks play.
Try it and hope that your gameplay will improve.

Build up:
Speed 80
Passing 33
Positioning free from

Chance Creation:
Passing 34
Crossing 90
Shooting 67
Positioning Free form

Defence:
Pressure 5
Aggression 35
Team width 33

This is how the Fifa 09 ultimate team chemistry works.

4 points for correct formation
3 points for correct position
3 points for correct nationality (same nationality as manager)
2 points for correct nationality (no manager)

Example: A team with no manager. A player with with correct formation, position and nationality will have 9 points (4+3+2). If all the players are the same, then it will be 9 x 11 = 99 chemistry.

All players have a predefined fixed internal attributes that can never be changed or trained using training cards in Ultimate Team.

Take for example, a created player always has 64 stats for all his internal attributes. In Ultimate Team, the internal attributes of any player can be viewed in "Team Management"--> "Players Roles"--> Choose any player-->Press R3 button to see the highlighted player profile. (Your created player should be in your team lineup first).

Another method to view the internal attributes of any player is to go back to the original Fifa 09 Squad feature to view the players internal attributes.

Here's a tip for contracts cards. Since there are so many on the market there are offers finishing every minute and since ppl dont like to wait they bid on the one that are close to expiring, if you search the later pages (the one that have about 18 hrs left and more), you will find cheap buy now prices for good cards I usually buy from there. the best I found was a 14 gold contract for 450 coins I usually find them for about 600. Hope this helps bargain hunters.

*Thanks Franch1zeboy for this tip!

By default, when playing home ground, your default ball is a grayish ball which is difficult to see especially in shadowed stadiums.
I will strongly recommend you the change the ball to either white or other bright colors to make the ball more visible.

If you wish to quickly shake off the defenders by making a sharp turn without moving the joystick, this is how it can be done.

Since L1/LB button is a to stop the ball facing the goal post, this stop ball feature can effectively be used to make a quick sharp turn on the spot without the need to move the joystick.

Personally I find it effective in some tight spots situation where I couldn't turn my player too much without the risk of losing the ball.

Have fun playing!

Beside team chemistry, players morale are also very important. With high morale, your players will run faster, tackle better and shoot more accurate too.

Below are some tips for managing your players morale.

1. Create your own Team A and Team B of players to swap between matches.
2. If your player is on the bench for too long, the morale will drop.
3. Win more matches.
4. Avoid yellow or red cards.
5. Man-of-the-match player will gain higher morale.
6. Normally, the goal keeper is more difficult to gain morale than other players.
7. Try to keep a clean sheet. When your goal keeper concedes a goal, his morale will drop as well.
8. Search for team talk cards to increase morale.
9. Score more goals to increase morale.
10. Minimize players substitution and allow your player to play the full 90 mins to gain higher morale
11. If you lose a match, your substituted player(s) morale will be affected too.
12. Use team talk card on the player who has less than 85 morale.

Match Completion: 200 Coins

Goals: 200 Coins (40 coins per goal - 5 goals MAX)

Shots On Target: 75 Coins (5 coins per Shot - 15 Shot MAX)

Tackles: 20 Coins (1 coins per tackle - 20 tackles MAX)

Corners: 50 Coins (2.5 coins per corner - 20 corners MAX)

Clean Sheet: 25 Coins

Passes Complete %: 100 Coins MAX (Your percentage = coins earned)

Possession %: 100 Coins MAX (Your percentage = coins earned)

Man Of The Match: 10 Coins

Notes:

After 5 goals no more coin bonuses will be awarded
After 15 shots on target no more coin bonuses will be awarded
After 20 tackles no more coin bonuses will be awarded
After 20 corners no more coin bonuses will be awarded

Goals Against: -100 coins MAX (-20 per goal, 5 goals MAX)

Fouls: -10 coins per foul (MAX unknown)

Yellow Cards: -5 coins per yellow (MAX -75 coins, 15 yellow MAX)

Red Cards: -10 coins per red (MAX -40 coins , 4 red cards MAX)

Offside: -1 coins per offside (MAX unknown)

DIFFICULTY MULTIPLIER:

Amateur: x 0.45
Semi-Pro: x 0.90
Professional: x 1.35
World Class: x 1.80
Legendary: x 2.25

HOME / AWAY MULTIPLIER:

Home: x 1.00
Away: x 1.02

TEAM DIFFERENCE MULTIPLIER:
Notes: Team Difference multiplier does not apply in online matches.

½ star vs ½ star = x 1.00
½ star vs 1 star = x 1.04
½ star vs 1 ½ star = x 1.08
½ star vs 2 star = x 1.12
½ star vs 2 ½ star = x 1.16
½ star vs 3 star = x 1.20
½ star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.24
½ star vs 4 star = x 1.28
½ star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.32
½ star vs 5 star = x 1.36

1 star vs ½ star = x 0.96
1 star vs 1 star = x 1.00
1 star vs 1 ½ star = x 1.04
1 star vs 2 star = x 1.08
1 star vs 2 ½ star = x 1.12
1 star vs 3 star = x 1.16
1 star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.20
1 star vs 4 star = x 1.24
1 star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.28
1 star vs 5 star = x 1.32

1 ½ star vs ½ star = x 0.92
1 ½ star vs 1 star = x 0.96
1 ½ star vs 1 ½ star = x 1.00
1 ½ star vs 2 star = x 1.04
1 ½ star vs 2 ½ star = x 1.08
1 1/2 star vs 3 star = x 1.12
1 ½ star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.16
1 ½ star vs 4 star = x 1.20
1 ½ star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.24
1 ½ star vs 5 star = x 1.28

2 star vs ½ star = x 0.88
2 star vs 1 star = x 0.92
2 star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.96
2 star vs 2 star = x 1.00
2 star vs 2 ½ star = x 1.04
2 star vs 3 star = x 1.08
2 star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.12
2 star vs 4 star = x 1.16
2 star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.20
2 star vs 5 star = x 1.24

2 ½ star vs ½ star = x 0.84
2 ½ star vs 1 star = x 0.88
2 ½ star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.92
2 ½ star vs 2 star = x 0.96
2 ½ star vs 2 ½ star = x 1.00
2 ½ star vs 3 star = x 1.04
2 ½ star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.08
2 ½ star vs 4 star = x 1.12
2 ½ star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.16
2 ½ star vs 5 star = x 1.20

3 star vs ½ star = x 0.80
3 star vs 1 star = x 0.84
3 star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.88
3 star vs 2 star = x 0.92
3 star vs 2 ½ star = x 0.96
3 star vs 3 star = x 1.00
3 star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.04
3 star vs 4 star = x 1.08
3 star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.12
3 star vs 5 star = x 1.16

3 ½ star vs ½ star = x 0.76
3 ½ star vs 1 star = x 0.80
3 ½ star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.84
3 ½ star vs 2 star = x 0.88
3 ½ star vs 2 ½ star = x 0.92
3 ½ star vs 3 star = x 0.96
3 ½ star vs 3 ½ star = x 1.00
3 ½ star vs 4 star = x 1.04
3 ½ star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.08
3 ½ star vs 5 star = x 1.12

4 star vs ½ star = x 0.72
4 star vs 1 star = x 0.76
4 star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.80
4 star vs 2 star = x 0.84
4 star vs 2 ½ star = x 0.88
4 star vs 3 star = x 0.92
4 star vs 3 ½ star = x 0.96
4 star vs 4 star = x 1.00
4 star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.04
4 star vs 5 star = x 1.08

4 ½ star vs ½ star = x 0.68
4 ½ star vs 1 star = x 0.72
4 ½ star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.76
4 ½ star vs 2 star = x 0.80
4 ½ star vs 2 ½ star = x 0.84
4 ½ star vs 3 star = x 0.88
4 ½ star vs 3 ½ star = x 0.92
4 ½ star vs 4 star = x 0.96
4 ½ star vs 4 ½ star = x 1.00
4 ½ star vs 5 star = x 1.04

5 star vs ½ star = x 0.64
5 star vs 1 star = x 0.68
5 star vs 1 ½ star = x 0.72
5 star vs 2 star = x 0.76
5 star vs 2 ½ star = x 0.80
5 star vs 3 star = x 0.84
5 star vs 3 ½ star = x 0.88
5 star vs 4 star = x 0.92
5 star vs 4 ½ star = x 0.96
5 star vs 5 star = x 1.00

In the previous topic, I've highlighted the method of buying cheap high demand cards from the trading market to sell it at a higher price. Some of you have asked me what are the high demand cards in UT.
Below are the high demands cards in hierarchy order.

Top 6 Rankings:
#1. All Players Gold Team Talk card.
#2. 1 player Bronze, Silver and Gold Training Cards. Pace training is high demand.
#3. All players Silver and Gold Training Cards. Pace training is high demand.
#4. Player Advanced Training cards. 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 and other 4 to 5 defenders and 2 strikers are excellent in demand.
#5. Well known gold card star players. England stars has highest demand.
#6. All player gold fitness card.

Very often, the game hangs during a substitution either in the middle of the game or after half time. This is really annoying where one has to quit the game to suffer a lost.

What I have found to prevent this bug from occurring during substitution is not to press the skip button. Be patient and just watch the entire substitution process.

*************************
EA Update: http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/fifa-09-ultimate-team/442605-fifa-ultimate-team-updates.html

Update: April 3rd, 7:10pm GMT

The team is still investigating what is causing the trading transaction delay for both X360 and PS3. From analyzing the system, there is no data being lost, it is only waiting in a long queue.

Our top priority is to ensure we maintain data integrity and get this resolved as soon as possible.

Although no data is being lost, we recommend to not use the Trading Area until this is resolved.

Next update once we have more info.

In ultimate team, we have to always keep an eye on the players and staffs contract expiry. If the staffs or players contracts reaches "1", contracts cards will be needed to keep them in the game.
So, what if we have no more contract cards left and does not have enough coins even to buy a bronze pack? If one ever reaches this stage, he will be "forced" to buy game packs using real cash but we should always avoid using real cash.

One strategy I'm employing when starting to built your team is to use low rated players. Mostly, I will buy a bronze pack after playing 2 online league games. Try to avoid online touranment matches at the start. The reason is because most people uses gameplay cards in these matches or disconnect when they lose (losing your contracts as well). Play only online league games.

Tip 1: Buy only 1 bronze pack after 2 games

One game on average will earn you about 400-500 coins. By playing 2 games, you will earn around 800-1000 coins to buy 1 bronze pack (500 coins).
A bronze pack will normally contain one or more players contract cards. Staff cards are less common. With that in mind, it is important to use your staff contract cards wisely.

Tip 2: Keep 1 manager only!

Discard the other staffs cards. You can keep them but do not use the staffs contract cards on them. The reason is the you will not get enough staffs contract cards to support these staffs.

Tip 3: If your contract cards are running low and you do not have enough coins, discard the expiring players and use those players you got from the game packs.

Keep playing more matches and only buy bronze packs only till you have saved enough coins for a silver pack (2500 coins). Keep the better players now and keep playing more games to save up for a gold pack.

Tip 4: Sell the gold rated cards in the trading market and set the price right!

Once you have gold rated players or other gold cards, sell these items in the trading market. A gold player training card or a gold team talk card will fetch a very good price! Other advanced player and manager training card are also in high demand.

Tip 5: Set the "Buy Now" price for faster selling in the trading market.

Spend some time to find the market price of the items that you wanted to sell. To quicken the selling, always set the "Buy Now" price.

Tip 6: Avoid selling unwanted or low demand items to overload your trade pile.

Another issue faced by many of us is that the trade pile is often full. When the trade pile is full, you will only have the option to discard the card or send to collection. To avoid this, always sell silver or gold items whenever possible.

Tip 7: Buy only bronze and gold packs eventually. Ignore the silver packs.

Bronze packs are cheap and often comes with players/staff contract cards. Silver packs are more expensive and most often, the silver items are of lower demand. The idea is to always aim for a gold pack.

Lastly, once you have built yourself enough coins and contract cards, the rest will be smooth sailing.

Does Team chemistry really matters?

Team Chemistry is the most important factor in Ultimate Team. If you got a 5 stars team with low team chemistry ( less than 40), they will play sluggishly; poor defending, ball passing will be poor, shooting will be bad, first touch and pace will be affected as well.
If you play a team with high chemistry, you will notice smooth passing, stronger defending, nice move and pass play and shooting will be more accurately.

Personally for me, whenever possible; I will always keep an eye on my team chemistry when I need to reshuffle my players either due to injury, contract expires or low morale. The following is a explanation of how team chemistry works in Ultimate Team.

The Boot Icon: This represent the player favourite position. When the player card position matches the position on the team formation, the boot icon will turn green.

The Globe icon: This represent the player nationality. The globe icon will turn green if your forwards or midfielders or defenders are of the same nationality.

The Pitch Icon: The pitch icon refers to the formation on the pitch. The pitch icon will turn green if your players formation choices matches that of your managers. This is one of the most difficult area to acquire as your player formation trainers are hard to acquire. To get full ptich green icons, your players and managers must have all the same formation icon.

Lastly the team manager nationality also plays apart. As stated your manager must match your players in the formation and nationality if you want the full bonus. In other words, if your spend alot to acquire José Mourinho for your all England players team, it will not work out to its full potential unless you wish to base your players around Portugal.
Unfortunately, José Mourinho is not in UT currently. Hope EA can add Mourinho in UT soon.

I've been reading and analyzing the methods to earn coins quickly in UT these few days. Some of the methods focus on:

1. Selling good players either by training your players from Bronze/Silver to Gold
To achieve this, you will require to play many online games to save up for a few gold packs. The objective is to acquire a good manager and trainer to train your bronze players to gold.

2. Buy Cheap and Sell Expensive
To achieve this, you will need to spend long hours monitoring the market price for certain players and cards to buy it at a low price. After you have acquire the items, sell it at a more expensive price. Alternately, you may also sell it at a later date when the demand of your items get higher.
The buy cheap and sell expensive is a very effective method to earn coins quickly. However, I dislike such tactics for it will bores me pretty soon. I will rather spend the time playing matches with my 2-3 stars team then monitoring the trading market.

3. Selling high demand items
Players and staffs contract cards are one of the high demands item on the trading market. By knowing the high demand items, you can easily sell these high demand items off at a good price.

4. Keep improving your gameplay
Personally, my preference is to play online matches to earn coins rather than spending hours monitoring the trading market or training your players to gold. Effectively speaking, one does not need to play many online games to earn coins if one employs such methods.
Eventually, many of us may end up with a all-star team with full 99 statistics players after sometime if they just focus on getting and training star players.
To me, my greatest satisfaction is not to form a "dream team" but to beat them using a lowly rated team.

5. Buy Badges and Kits for Collections
Look for any cards that you can put in your collection that have a current bid of 0. Only buy badges and kits from major leagues (England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy) and DO NOT buy anything from Turkey or Portugal as they do not go into your collection and are a waste of money.

Don't bid over 150 for any of them, you'll end up winning a lot of auctions as there are thousands of them that end up slipping through the cracks like that. Every time you win one, put the card in your collection for ~500 each time. Your 150 becomes 500. Early in the game when you don't have that many coins this is a GREAT way to grow your coin account by 3x while you wait to get the cards you need to grow it significantly.

6. Cheating the system
Currently, I've seen people using such tactics to cheat the UT system to earn coins. So what if you've got all the coins and a perfect 99 statistics team and players? Is that your "Ultimate" objective as to buy UT just to cheat?
Most of the cheating tactics I've read is to use another account to buy your items in the trading system. These "buying" UT accounts are repeatedly deleted and re-created by abusing the "Delete Ultimate Team" feature.

For those who love the excitement of getting different game packs, the Ultimate team will be an addictive game to you. The following are the frequent questions and answers.

Q1. Is UT free to play?
A1. It is free only for 5 free game matches only. After that you will need to purchase the full version.

Q2. How do I use the Game Cards in the game?
A2. Press "Select" and use the direction button on the D-Pad to select the card to use. Your opponent will notice this as well.

Q3. I wish to install UT, any caveats to take note?
A3. After you've done installing UT, remember to restart Fifa 09 and you will be able to play the game.

Q4. My custom tactics are gone after playing Ultimate Team.
A4. Yes, this is a UT bug. Remember to upload your custom tactics to your EA locker before installing UT. You can also write it down first.
If your custom tactics is gone, you can either download your custom tactics from EA locker or recreate it again.

Q5. I lost my players!
A5. If your player contract expires your player will disappear. Avoid playing your player who is left with a contract of "1" accompanied with a exclaimation mark beside the player card. If you play him, you will lose the player when the contract becomes "0". There are other uncomfirmed bugs in UT which might cause your player or created player to disappear.

Q6. I got the message "Unable to load Ultimate Team store".
A5. This is a bug mostly due to network conjestion or lag. If you are using your network for P2P or similar at the same time, stop these activities and restart Fifa 09.

Q7. I lost my Created player!
A7. This is a known bug. Just go to the "Edit Created Player" menu again and create the player again. Your created player will appear again with the same attributes after you have save the changes.

Q8. Anyway to play UT with your friends?
A8. There is no option to play directly with your friend. The only way is to search for the game at the same time repeatedly till the opponent is your friend.

Q9. I wish to pass a card to my friend. How to do it?
A9. Use the "Trade Offer" feature in the trading system. Post your card with a high price like 40k or something for easier searching. Inform your friend to search for minimum price set to 30k and highest price to 50k. Next, your friend will need to use the "Offer Trade" feature to exchange for your card (he just need to pass you any one card).

Read more about Fifa 09 Ultimate Team here.

Ultimate Team has had a full dev team working on it for the past year - it's much more accurate to think of it as an enormous expansion to the game - such as you'd buy in boxes in shops for other games - rather than a simple add-on. You could even go so far as to think of it as a whole new game in its own right. Considering that, I'm absolutely certain that if you think it's something you'll enjoy, then the one-off price of adding Ultimate Team to your FIFA experience will be more than worthwhile.

But just to reiterate one thing: Ultimate Team is of course entirely optional. If you choose not to join in, you'll still be able to play FIFA 09 in its entirety as usual. Nothing changes there.

Watch the intro video here.

Glitch: The goalkeeper holds on to the ball for 45mins and don't letting it go when the score is to his favor.

I've been considering if I should reveal the goal keeper glitch here for two days. Personally, I will never use such dirty tactics in online game just to win matches.
People have been asking me to share this glitch out of curiousity on how it is done.
After two days of considering, my answer is "Yes". I will reveal it here. My only advise to those who wish to abuse this in online ranked matches is "Stop playing Fifa09!"

The Step-by-Step guide:

Objective: Once your goal keeper got hold of the ball, pause the game to make changes to the squad. The glitch will be triggered when you subsitute a outfield (on the field) player to a keeper position. A normal subsitution is not allow but it can done if you follow the following steps.

Step1: Select the outfield goalkeeper and swap it with any player name "G" on the sub bench.
Step2: Select any outfield player named "S" and replace it with any player on the sub bench name "B".
Step3: Select the player named "S" on the sub bench (previous outfield player) and replace the outfield goal keeper named "G".
Step4: Unpause the game.

By doing the above, you have actually replaced the goal keeper with a outfield player. Effectively, you have also actually made just one bench subsitution player named "B".

To what I know, the EA developers are already aware of this glitch and they are currently in the process of releasing a patch soon.

Temporary Solution:
For the time being, if anyone attempts to use this against you, the easiest way out of it is to slide tackle (foul) the goal keeper. You will likely not be booked for this but will force your opponent to subsitute the weak goal keeper with the "actual" goal keeper.

Through balls are great to beat the offisde trap and free your fast running forwards or wingers. To execute a effective through ball, this is what I normally do and look out for.

1. As soon as my forward turn their body to make a run, use a long ground through ball or high through ball (L1/LB+Y/triangle).

2. Aim the through ball inbetween the gaps of the opponent defenders (see picture) rather than trying to aim towards the path of the running player. This will increase the chances of a successful through ball.

3. Hold the Y/triangle button longer for longer balls.

4. If one hold the pass button (X/A) button long enough, a long pass will become a good through ball as well.

5. Use high lob through balls for counter attacks or when your ground through ball paths are blocked.

6. One can also practice semi-assisted pass for effective through balls if you are comfortable with it.

7. Do keep in mind that through ball can be easily intercepted by fast running opponents.

Trust me, most matches are normally won by good through balls. The above pointers only serve as a reference. Do keep practicing to find your own unique through balls tactics. Cheers!

What I observed myself when I lost a game is mostly because of my agitated temperament during the game. At times, when I make silly defensive errors to allow my opponent to score; I will tend to be angry and eventually lose the game.

Your opponent may also tries to intentionally agitate you in the game. Do not fall into their trap by allowing him to play the man! Instead, take a deep breath, put on a smile and imagine that you are playing a chess game. The practical chess-player looks out for the strengths and weakness of his opponents, and goes out of his way to capitalize on the weakness.

Similarly, one may also suggest to agitate your opponent by playing the man. I will recommend not to over do it as to leave a bad name for yourself. The one factor you should not consider, however, is how many fancy advanced skill moves you have executed if you can win the match with a brillant last minute goal.

Last but not least, one should only concerned only with the results, and that means going for the full 90 mins or extra-time if that is the safest way of winning.

When playing online ranked games, one might frequently encountered some game problems and wished to quit the game. However, after 5 mins into the game, it will be impossible to quit without getting a lost. Personally, I have a few checklists in my mind to check before I proceed with the ranked games. The followings are the few checklist to check before starting a ranked game.

Checklist before game starts:

1. Remember the following quiting early rules (Does not applies to Ultimate Team!):
0-3 in-game minutes: leave without penalty
3-5 in-game minutes: player that quits has their DNF% affected
5+ in-game minutes: player that quits has their DNF% affected and receives a 3-0 loss

2. Do not press the skip button before match starts. Watch the players in the opponent's team for any created player or stars players from other teams. If created players or stars players not suppose to be in the team are used, quit the game. This is a known 'hack' that is not yet fixed.

3. If just after kickoff, the game is 'jerky' probably due to network lag, quit the game before 5 mins or less.

4. If the stadium is too dark either due to huge overcast shadow, quit the game.

5. If the opponent's kit color are almost identical to your player kit color, quit the game.

6. If your opponent's shout and sing in the microphone, quit the game

7. Hold on to the X/A+ sprint button to prepare to dash towards the ball at kickoff. This is to foil the goal from kickoff bug where your opponent shoot the ball from kickoff.

8. If your opponent scores a goal directly from kickoff, quit the game.

9. Wait for all the players to be "seen" first before kick-off. The "invisible" players are probably due to network latency issue.

I'm playing Fifa09 online using a 0.5 star rated team and still manage to beat most 5 stars teams. Many people have asked me to share my custom formation and strategy as well.
I'll say why not? Please take it as a reference guide only.

Formation:
4-4-2 using Sweeper and Central Defend Midfielder
Update: Now I use the 5-3-2 formation, replacing the CDM with RCB.

Build up:
Speed: 100 (experimenting good)
Passing: 65
Positioning: Free Form
Chance Creation:
Passing: 85
Crossing: 100 (experimenting)
Shooting: 18 (if you wants to have more movement in the penalty box)
Positioning: Free Form
Defence:
Pressure: 30
Aggression: 33
Team Width: 68
Defender Line: Cover

If you love using lowly rated teams to win 5 stars teams like Man Utd or Barcelona, these are the recommended teams that you can try.

Cardiff
Sheffield Utd
Real Zaragoza
Reading
Valenegra
Leeds Utd
Hoffenheim
Millwall
Guadalajara
Hereford
Macclesfield

Basically what jockey does is to execute man marking by not diving in a tackle unnecessary. A jockey press is executed by holding down L2/LT and X/A button. Running jockey is executed by holding down L2/LT + R2/RT + X/A button.

When your opponent is near or in the penalty box always use jockey to defend. Do not rush your defenders to dive in unnecessary.

Some may think that jockeying lacks the aggression to win the ball quickly from your opponent. This concept is untrue for the jockeying player will still do a standing tackle for the ball. During jockeying, if your opponent tries to pass through or sprint pass your jockeying player, your player will automatically execute an effective standing tackle while holding his position strongly.

While jockeying, it is also very effective to call your 2nd defender (hold the shoot button) to tackle your opponent while your jockey press player marks your opponent tightly.

With more practice, you will find that jockeying is really a effective defending skill to master.

The Fifa 09 online goal keeper seems to be super human. They can make ridiculous good saves by diving accurately and also dash towards your strikers to foil your goal attempts.
For those who wish to learn the tricks to score 1 on 1 with the goal keeper; here are some tips to share.

When the keeper is running out towards your striker, keep a cool head and lob (L1/LB+shoot) the ball over the keeper. You will need to practice your lobbing skill to be accurate. The arena will be a excellent place for you to practice lobbing.

The next method is to use finese shot (R1/RS+shoot) to curl the ball round the keeper into goal. The finese shot is only effective if your striker is within the penalty box and also the keeper should not be too close to your striker when the finese shot is executed.

Another popular method is just to side-step the keeper and shoot when the keeper is running out towards your striker.

Of course there are many other methods to fool the keeper by using the other more advanced skills. However, you will need to take note that if you are playing a lowly rate team with less skillful players, these advanced skills will be almost impossible to perform. Take for example, the Fake Rabona skill can only be performed by players with dribbling skill of about 85 (approx).

Basic Running Celebrations:

Two arms in the air - Hold TRIANGLE (PS3) Hold Y (360)
'Look at me!' - Hold SQUARE (PS3) Hold X (360)
Hold right arm in the air - Hold CIRCLE (PS3) Hold B (360)
Low airplane - Hold X (PS3) Hold A (360)

Advanced Running Celebrations:

Windmill - Right analog/thumbstick, 360º clockwise
High airplane - Click right analog/thumbstick
Blow kisses - Right analog/thumbstick, down-up(hold)
Blow kisses and point - Right analog/thumbstick, up-down(hold)
'Shhhhh' - Right analog/thumbstick, right(hold)
Alternative low airplane - Right analog/thumbstick, down(hold)
Hold face - Right analog/thumbstick, up(hold)
Drogba fist pump - Right analog/thumbstick, right-left(hold)
'Come on' - Right analog/thumbstick, left-right(hold)
'I can't hear you' Right analog/thumbstick, left(hold)

Basic Finishing Moves:

Standing arm sweep - L1+CIRCLE (PS3) LB+B (360)
Kneeling fist pump - L1+SQUARE (PS3) LB-X (360)
Aim to the sky - L1+X (PS3) LB+A (360)
'Ta-Da' (Arms to sky) - L1+TRIANGLE (PS3) LB+Y (360)

Advanced Finishing Moves- (All while holding L1/LB)

Chest slide - Right analog/thumbstick, down-up
Triple fist pump - Right analog/thumbstick, 180º left-right (via down) x2
Bow - Right analog/thumbstick, up-down
Forward roll - Right analog/thumbstick, 360º clockwise.
Jump and punch air - Click right analog/thumbstick
Fall to knees - Right analog/thumbstick up-click
COME ON!! (To crowd) - Right analog/thumbstick, left(hold)
'I can't hear you' (To crowd) Right analog/thumbstick, down-up (via right), hold.
Fall to one knee - Right analog/thumbstick, down(hold)
Cancel Celebration - L1+R1/LB+RB

Advanced Finishing Moves [PT. 2] (Hold R1/RB to perform these moves)

Nani triple backflip - Right analog/thumbstick, anticlockwise-clockwise-repeatedly tap X/A (PS3,360)
Triple backflip (W/Hands) Right analog/thumbstick, clockwise-anticlockwise- repeatedly tap X/A (PS3,360)
Frontflip (w/Hands) - Right analog/thumbstick, down-up-down-repeatedly tap X/A (PS3,360)
Knee slide - Click right analog/thumbstick

Do not hold L1/LB for the following:

Cartwheel - (While holding L2/LT) Right analog/thumbstick, down-up (via left)
Peter Crouch Robot - (While holding L2/LT) Click right analog/thumbstick,
Samba - (While holding L2/LT) Tap R1/RB repeatedly
Finger point - (While holding L2/LT) Right analog/thumbstick, down-up-down
Excite crowd - (While holding L2/LT) Right analog/thumbstick,up-up-up
Knee slide, fall to pitch - (While holding L2/LT) Right analog/thumbstick, down-up.
Fall to knees-hold face - (While holding L2/LT) Right analog/thumbstick, up-click

Squads and Players:

Q. Can I change the Arena Goalkeeper?
A. No

Q Can I edit kit numbers in MM?
A. No

Q. Can I save my custom team lineup for ranked games?
A. No

Q. Can you edit your players appearance in BAP ?
A. No

Q. How to call the goal keeper up the field during a corner kick?
A. The goal keeper will automatically run up the field to support the corner kick if you are using ultra-offensive tactics and losing the match.

Updates and Settings:

Q. How do I get a Patch/Update when it is released?
A. They just appear as updates when you turn on the console and your are connected to Xbox Live / PSN. You will HAVE to update in order to play ONLINE.

Q. ALS updates but Beckham isnt in Milan.
A. Adidas Live Season only updates player "form" it does not do squad or team updates.

Q. Why can I not switch teams in the lobby/connect to friends?
A. Try this: Guide To Connect To Fifa With PS3 or XBOX

Q.How do I find my skill level
A. You can set up email alerts in the player hub from the main FIFA menu. You can also view ranking stats in the player hub too.

Q.Why am I not ranked
A. There are hundreds of thousands of players. Only the top 10,000 get a ranking place, so you need to keep playing and winning to build up your rank points.

Online Play:

Q. Why don't I get the win when my Opponent Quits?
A. Is a bug and issue in Fifa 09. No good solution yet.

Q. Can I play 2 v 2 with friends?
A. Yes: BAP: Online Team PLay
CHOOSE "CREATE SESSION"
4th option down, set "PRIVATE SESSION" to YES
Click Create session, The lobby will be created and you can invite as few or as many friends as you like and because the session is private, no-one can join unless invited.
They pick their sides and once everyone is redied up, and here is the great thing, all players can pick "ANY" - this allows a simple way to play X v X online.

Q. Can I play with a guest (same console) online?
A. Yes quick ranked match only. You can't do Online team play with a guest. Press the "Y" ( PS3: Triangle ) button in the team select Lobby.

Q. Can I save my Online Goals?
A. NO.

Q: I want to play my favorite 2* team but the other player always chooses a 5* team. and I lose. abuser, whine, whine, whine, ronaldo, whine, whine, man u, whine, whine...
A: You have the option to quit in the lobby pre game with no penalty. If you stay, play and get beat, please dont come on here to blame the opponent. Try joining a league of lower star teams, the forums are also a good place to find match ups.

Q. How can I stop people lobbing my keeper from kick-off?
A. Rush the player. Hold A (PS3:X) and push towards the attacker. This will cause your forward to Pressure from kick off. Be ready to change direction to counter the Diagonal Run.

Q. What are the numbers under my Gamertag/PSN in-game?
A. They are your EASW points. Used on HERE: EA SPORTS World to buy stuff for your avatar. they do NOT relate to your rank in any way.

Q. How do I link my PS3 username and XBox Gamertag/PSN to EASW
A. Read on here: PS3 and XBox360.

Q. How can I check my level for ranked game?
A. Go to any one of the lobbies, hold L2/LT scroll down until it says "Sort by skill level". Once you selected sort by skill level, you will be able to see your current level beside your name.

Q. How can I increase my level?
A. When you start playing Fifa online you have 500 Skill points. For every win you get points depending on which team you use and how good your opponent is (More points for winning with smaller teams against big teams and more points for beating higher ranked players). Once you cross 600 you are level 2, 700 level 3, 800 Level 4 and so on.. Once you reach 2000 points you then need 200 points to move a level up.

Access your router menu by typing in the long Router Address (which is a line of numbers) into the browser page address. eg 192.168.1.254

The internal, LAN-IP address is normally set to a default, private number. Linksys routers, for example, use 192.168.1.1 for their internal IP address. D-Link and Netgear routers typically use 192.168.0.1. Some US Robotics routers use 192.168.123.254, and some SMC routers use 192.168.2.1. No matter the brand of router, its default internal IP address should be provided in documentation. Administrators often have the option to change this IP address during router setup. In any case, however, the private LAN-IP address remains fixed once set. It can be viewed from the router's administrative console.

Now you need to set up a static IP address.

You need to go to the DMZ menu option in your router through your router menu. Make sure this is not conflicting with any other device as it will not work very well.

Once you have done that, it is time to set the ports up.

On page 20 of the FIFA manual there is a list of ports.

Go into the Port Forwarding Menu in your Router Menu (This is sometimes called Application & Sharing or Gaming Menu or Other) and set the ports up that it says in the book. I created a new application name and then linked these ports to it and saved it as FIFA09.

Those are as follows

TCP 80 to 80
TCP 9980 to 9989
TCP 12400 to 12499
TCP 30400 to 30499

UDP 3659 to 3659
UDP 9570 to 9570
UDP 9808 to 9811
UDP 9858 to 9861

Now link the IP address that you made earlier to these ports and the Application you linked the ports to.

Note - Remember to save your progress every step of the way.

OK, that is all that open and done.

Now, for your PS3.

Go into Settings, Internet Connection Settings (Wireless), Choose Custom, Enter Manually and then follow and do not alter anything until you get to the section that says IP address, enter this manually and enter the one you chose as your Static IP address. Now save all that.

For An XBOX 360, follow this.

"System -> Network Settings -> Edit Settings." and enter the static IP address you got from your router.

I have also found that allot of problems are solved on FIFA by clearing the Cache, this is done as so.

To clear the cache on the Xbox 360 do the following:

Go to the Xbox Dashboard, select the System Blade, and select Memory.
Highlight the HD symbol and press Y.
Press X, X, Left Bumper, Right Bumper, X, X.

You will see a confirmation message to confirm system maintenance, proceed.

This will clear all the updates you have had for previous games but they can be put back very easily and it does not damage your xbox.

I have had a few people email me and they have had success with this method for their XBOX.

Deleting all the squad and profile information from any FIFA game has also helped in some cases.

You are done.

You may want to restart your router for things to take effect but other than that this should work wonders as it did for me.

1. Go to EA.com and log in with your main EA account details.
2. Click on the "Add Persona" found under "Select A Default Persona"
3. Select the "existing PLAYSTATION Network Online ID" radio button and enter the PS3 User name that you wish to link to your EA account.
4. Select "Add Persona"
5. This should generate an e-mail to your registered e-mail address.
6. Follow the link contained within the e-mail. Once that is done, your PS3 Username will be successfully linked with this account.

1. Go to EA.com and log in with your main EA account details.
2. Click on the "Add Persona" found under "Select A Default Persona"
3. Select the "existing Xbox LIVE Gamertag" radio button and enter the Xbox360 Gamertag name that you wish to link to your EA account.
4. Select "Add Persona"
5. This should generate an e-mail to your registered e-mail address.
6. Follow the link contained within the e-mail. Once that is done, your Xbox360 Gamertag will be successfully linked with this account.

Before you can see any video's, photo's or stats from the game you first need to set your PSN ID / Gamertag as your default persona. To set your default persona on EA SPORTS Football World:

1. Click on the "Profile" tab
2. Click on "Edit" (found under "My Bio")
3. Select your PSN ID / Gamertag from the persona drop-down list
4. Set this as your default persona

Having set your default persona, you will now be able to create a FIFA 09 avatar.

1. Click on the "Visit Avatar Store button"
2. Select "FIFA Football"
3. Important: You need to select "Fifa football" menu tab (see image) before you save avatar in order for it to appear during gameplay.
4. Create your avatar, save it and then click on the "X" to close.

Never Dive In:
Many players rush the attacker if you play soccer in real life you know this is the hardest way to defend as the attacker will beat you easily. Don't Dive In.

Wait for Support:
When you are 1v1 against the attacker don't put pressure right away if you are the last defender back. If the attacker beats you he will be 1v1 against the keeper, wait for support and use the (Call 2nd Defender Button) then make your defensive move.

2nd Defender:
FIFA09 has a feature called 2nd defender (hold the shoot button). This feature allows you to tell a 2nd defender who is nearest to the ball to put pressure or mark the attacker with the ball by holding X on your PS3 controller.

The cool thing about this feature is that you can be in control of a defender while you tell the 2nd defender to pressure the ball, great for double teaming an attacker.

Square Your Defender:
I'm sure many of you have seen that its very hard to control your defenders and that they commit very easily on defense, well by using your WALK button your defender will square off his body facing the ball putting him in a save position to make his tackle, this is done by holding L2 on your PS3 controller. (you will also notice that your defender will make a hand gesture calling his teammates back for help)

Stealing the Ball:
People always wonder why they keep fouling the player with the ball, this because you are holding the steal ball button too long. You need to apply the Tap, Tap, Tap button rule this means when you are trying to steal the ball from the attacker press your steal the ball button simultaneously (tap, tap, tap) this way your defenders wont give away stupid fouls or commit easily.

Sprinting on Defense:
Never a good thing, why you ask? Because the more you sprint the less control of you player you will have. Only sprint if you are 100% sure that you will win the ball if you sprint without thinking it will be easy for the attacker to make his move and he goes 1v1 against your keeper.

Its better with you sprint to get closer to the attacker then release the sprint button then square off your defender facing the ball and call your 2nd defender for help. (see Square Your Defender help)

CPU Defending:
When your opponent sends a ground or air through ball don't switch to your defender right away if you are 50/50 with the attacker by switching to your defender u will noticed that you will interrupt his run and slow him down.

In FIFA switching to defenders too fast will interrupt the players momentum, what you need to do is Let the CPU do it for a few seconds until u know u will get the ball is better.

Camera Angle:
The camera angle is very important to me the best camera angle is the classic TELE with 100% zoom and 100% height this will allow you to see then entire field better and you can see your opponent's players coming at you or else you will get blind spots.

Player Switch:
I don't know about you but I dislike it when the CPU switches to a player that is not even near the ball, for this reason I recommend to you all to change your player switch to 0% this way you will have full control of your defenders. You can switch your player switch by going into your wireless controller settings.

Defensive tactics:
Make sure that your PRESSURE is not above 50 and that your AGGRESSION is below 40.

Explained:

Pressure ---> is how much is how much pressure your team or defenders will put on your opponent. I don't' like it to high because it leaves gaps and people can beat you easily.

Aggression ---> this is how aggressive your defenders will be when not controlled by you if you noticed that when your aggression is like 60 or 70 your defenders will either double team the player with the ball or run right to them leaving a gap in the back.

It's always good to keep it balanced. If you take a look at Milan's tactics their Pressure is at 30, you will notice that their defenders never go pass the middle and always stay back. Chelsea has a low pressure and aggression too same with Manchester United. Barcelona's tactics are risky, they are a great team to attack but they are one of the easiest team to beat and score on because they pressure is high.

Defending Quick kick-Off:
Many times people will kick the ball forward at kick-off and dribble through all your players or take a shoot right after the kick-off to get an easy goal. What you can do is right before kick off press the (call 2nd defender button) the defender will put pressure on this attacker not giving him a chance to shoot or dribble past you.

The reality of this is that players are not suppose to pass the ball forward at kick-off they need to pass the ball back then go forward this is the fairplay way.

Formations:
Formations are a big part in FIFA, some formation counter each other for example 4-3-3 vs 4-4-2 the 4-3-3 formation will be harder for you to defend the middle of the field there for you will need to use a more balanced formation. Keep in mind that the formations below were selected for better defense not intended for offense.

4-4-2 Customized
Very balanced formation it allows you to attack the wings for easy crosses, it is also great for defending as you have two center defensive midfielders that track back to help out the defenders. Look at Spain's default formation one player acts as the CDM while the other acts as a attacking mid but he always tracks back to support the defenders.

4-1-2-1-2
Great formation for defensive mind players, it allows you to defend well but at the same time support your strikers. Its very important to always keep 4 players in the back and with your CDM (center defensive Midfield) it makes it almost impossible to penetrate through the middle. You also have a CAM (center attacking Midfield) this is a great link between the midfields and the strikers.

I recommend this formation for players who are having defending the 5 star teams abusers like the Manchester united and Barcelona.

3-5-2
This formation gives you a great balance in the midfield its great to attack the flanks, your players will always be available for that 1-2 pass because of your 5 midfielders.
Do not use counter attack with this formation as your opponents will have a goal fest since you are only keeping 3 defenders in the back.

You need to understand what your style of play is then select or customize a formation for you. Why would you choose a 4-3-3 formation if you like to pass the ball around a lot.

Defending Crossing:
Sometimes its luck that you get to win the ball in the air, but you should know that there is a trick to always win the ball or at least make it harder for attackers to win the ball in the 18 yard box. - When your opponent crosses the ball from either sides left or right make sure that you hold the Walk Button (L2) this will make the defender face in the direction that the ball is crossed, then make sure that you head the ball with O (shoot button) in the direction it was crossed.

If you try to head the ball the opposite way your defender might not have the perfect angle or position to win the ball. Try heading the ball at an angle while holding L2 pushing the R3 analog button will also help fight off the attackers.

Clearing the Ball:
Has this happened to you? When you press the pass or shoot button for your defenders to clear the ball out, and they just stand there and look at it? Well its best that you don't kill the buttons meaning don't press them too many times as it may cause your player to freeze or give a poor clearance, just press and hold or double tap and hold the last tap.

Ex: Tap, Tap (hold) hold the last tap.

Charging with Keeper:
Using the keeper charge button (triangle) can be good and bad, calling the keeper out is great at times but you must time the attacker's runs. This is a great way to intercept the ball. When you press the keeper charge button, this will make your opponent think that you pulled your keeper out and he will try to go for the easy chip shot. Quickly release the keeper rush button again your keeper will then track back fooling the attacker.

Cutting Angles:
Never chase the player with the ball after he beat you 1v1 always try to run at angle back to your goal don't chase the attacker has he will always win the foot race.

If your last defender (RB or LB) gets beat on the wing don't chase the attacker make sure that you run back to your goal at an angle eventually you will run into him again and this time you will have support and win the ball. (remember to use your walk button and call 2nd defender features)

Defending Corners:
Always keep a player by the semi circle this way when your keeper or your defender clears the ball you will have a player in the path of the incoming attacker making it hard for him to get a shot off.

Always get in front of the attacker win the ball positioning is important, keep at least one player at the penalty spot. Don't pull your keeper out to punt the ball unless you are 100% sure keepers make better saves when they are kept in goal.

For many of you FIFA is just a video game, that's not the case for me, it requires thinking and skills its kind of like a chess game you need to think about your opponent's next move and try to intercept him. Always think ahead try to figure out your opponents next pass, cross, skill dribble etc.

Play fair guys as you don't get anywhere by cheating.

FIFA EARTH collects all the twitter tweets related to FIFA from all around the whole, so you can find out what the world is saying about Fifa and anything else football/soccer related.
EA Fifa Earth (beta)

You can now watch my live online matches or have a game with me too. If you are not playing, you can also chat with me and others too in here.

Access Code: fifa10-jtv

Justin.TV channel: http://www.justin.tv/demongun_sg

Live video archives: http://www.justin.tv/demongun_sg/all.