EA FC 24 boldly holds the throne as the best football simulation currently on the market. Even if fans tend to agree that the series’s heyday is in the past, there’s no denying how popular the newest iteration is. With over 60,000 daily players, the numbers confirm that there’s a lot going on under the hood in EA FC 24.
Whether you’re after EA FC 24 Coins to min-max your Ultimate Team or simply looking for a friendly exhibition match online, each in-game moment will put your skills to the test. Football is a game where strategy and agility collide, and EA’s flagship title beautifully translates all that on both consoles and PCs.
So, if you’re trying to raise your skill level and enjoy the game even more, these are the most important skills to master in EA FC 24!
The Fake Shot
When you want to lower the other player’s morale and make them get angry at themselves, there’s hardly a better trick to turn to than the fake shot. This move is popular in real-life matches as well and never ceases to look both fun and smart. Mastering it in EA FC 24 will allow you to easily throw the opponent off-balance while freeing up space for a slew of options you can utilize in the very next moment.
Performing the fake shot move in-game is easy: you only need to press the “pass” button after giving the “shoot” command. The result is your player initiating the shooting animation, taking a stance as if they were going to send the ball flying with the preferred foot, before suddenly retaining their posture without touching the ball.
Of course, the other player might see through this attempt on time and avoid opening up their defenses, but the fake shot can evolve in several directions from there. Pro players often use it to gain a short speed boost after the feint. To do so, press the LB/L1 button while tilting the movement stick and lightly pressing the shoot button. Then, switching to the “pass” button will see your player immediately changing directions and darting elsewhere, potentially leaving the opposing player behind.
La Croqueta
Another move that we see very often in the world’s most popular football leagues and tournaments, the La Croqueta received a nerf in EA FC 24 so it cannot be easily combined into a fake shot anymore. However, it still has a long list of use cases and is an excellent tool for preserving your momentum and circling around defenders.
To pull it off, hold the LB/L1 button while manipulating the right analog stick to pick a direction you wish to face. Then, the player will briefly kick the ball with one foot, sending it toward his other foot before quickly resuming control and continuing in a different trajectory.
Mastering this skill may allow you to create space when within the opponent’s 16th area, or quickly get past another player without crossing the field’s borders. However, be careful not to bump into another defender when doing so, because this move can leave the ball open for a brief period.
Controlled Sprint
Sprinting in EA FC 24 is both a tactical maneuver and a last-resort defensive move, though it will add to your player’s fatigue if overused. The Controlled Sprint technique is an offensive move, though, and allows you to remain hard to read even when jousting in a (seemingly) straight line.
When holding the sprint (R1/RB) button, a few inputs of the bumpers (R2/RT) alongside changes with the movement stick will break up your sprint in various ways without losing much speed. Hence, you can fine-tune how much force you give to the next turn, perform a U-turn, or aim to outsmart an approaching defender by switching your arc at the last second.
Getting the hang of this will take some time, and you might end up running into outs while experimenting. It’s another one of those skills that are best mastered in training, but Controlled Sprint can become second nature if you put in the hours.
Ball Roll Drag
This skill requires a player with 4 stars in Skills, which is the category that most attackers in the game fall into. Then, you’ll have to hold the L1/LB button while tilting the right analog stick, before quickly giving a direction with the left analog stick.
Getting used to this is not all that intuitive, but results in a fancy maneuver when the player “drags” the ball inward with the bottom of their shoe, protecting it from defenders while gaining ground in the desired direction. It’s a great way to shield the ball at all times, as any tackle during a well-executed Ball Roll Drag will most likely produce a foul for your team to exploit.
