Passing the ball is a very important component of FIFA 14. Unlike previous installments of the franchise, passing is the hardest it has ever been, thanks to revamped Teammate Intelligence. Defenders swarm as soon as the ball leaves your foot. The guy on the receiving end will try to get the ball, but two defenders will do the same.
Passing works the same as shooting with the power meter. Tap the pass button to perform a short pass to a close teammate, or hold it to send the ball to a teammate farther down the pitch. Survey the field and choose your passes wisely. One wrong pass could have you going from a scoring drive to quickly sprinting back on defense.
After going over how dangerous a bad pass can be, we’ll stress how important passing is. A good passing game will win and lose matches. You won’t be able to take one guy and run down the entire field dipping and dodging every defender for a glorious goal (yet). Passing is the glue that holds a winning team together, and we need your middle name to be Elmer.
EA Sports made passing the ball in FIFA 14 more challenging. Luckily for us, FIFA comes equipped with a variety of passes to help you get out of any situation.
The through pass is a pass every player needs to have up his or her sleeve. This is a great way to get out on a breakaway and beat the back line. A through pass aims to a spot ahead of the player you are passing to so he can get to it in mid stride. Not passing directly to a player is risky, so practice this one. It is a high risk, high reward pass. To perform a through pass, press Y/Triangle, and again, the power meter comes into play.
While discussing the through pass, there is a highflying variation called the lifted/lobbed through pass. This is the same type of pass, but in the air and over the heads of defenders. To perform this pass, hold down LB/L1 and then hit Y/Triangle. This type of pass is very effective if you catch a quick forward on a break that beat the offside call.
The last pass we will mention is the give and go. To perform a give and go, hold LB/L1 while pressing A/Cross. The give and go is the best way to try and get a defender off of your back and you into the open. A give and go is where you pass the ball to a teammate, and before the ball even gets to him, you start sprinting down field, so as soon as it hits your teammate’s feet he is passing it right back to you. This quick tap/tap pass is very effective, and a must for upper echelon players.
