Timothy Weah comes barrelling down the wing at a disorganised Lazio defence who’ve been pulled out of position by Federico Chiesa’s decoy run. Rather than crossing it, the Juve winger dribbles it right into the box, daring a centre-back to try and put a tackle in. He’s looking to square it over to Vlahovic and finish off what’s known as ‘the FIFA goal’, that squared ball across the box football fans have been scoring mirthlessly for the last two decades. Ugly, repetitive, and brutishly effective.
But this isn’t FIFA, it’s FC24. Not just a name change brought about by licensing issues, but a footy game that actually changes the formula. They say this every year, obviously, but this time you feel it on the pitch.
Where you feel it most is in defending. All the new animations and the tweaked controls mean that momentum is king this year, and putting in a standing tackle - committing to being stationary for a moment - is basically suicide. It’s much better to manually track the player you’re marking and try to block their shots and passes than it is to dispossess them though a tackle.
Which brings us back to a young Juventus winger trotting along the goal line, looking for that pass. He can’t score the FIFA goal because the online opponent in this match is a) wise to this move and b) too terrified to go out and tackle Weah. Because if tackles are suicide, tackles in the box are akin to that monk on the Rage Against the Machine album cover who set himself on fire in the street.
But this isn’t FIFA, it’s FC24. Not just a name change brought about by licensing issues, but a footy game that actually changes the formula. They say this every year, obviously, but this time you feel it on the pitch.
Where you feel it most is in defending. All the new animations and the tweaked controls mean that momentum is king this year, and putting in a standing tackle - committing to being stationary for a moment - is basically suicide. It’s much better to manually track the player you’re marking and try to block their shots and passes than it is to dispossess them though a tackle.
Which brings us back to a young Juventus winger trotting along the goal line, looking for that pass. He can’t score the FIFA goal because the online opponent in this match is a) wise to this move and b) too terrified to go out and tackle Weah. Because if tackles are suicide, tackles in the box are akin to that monk on the Rage Against the Machine album cover who set himself on fire in the street.
