Walkthrough

The difference between winning and losing

When you play your match, you will either win or lose (draw goes to penalties to determine the winner in single player). If you win you'll get the win screen (a player lifting the World Cup). If you lose you'll get the loser screen (your distraught players exiting the stadium).

So how you avoid having your players leave the stadium crying (tears of sadness, not tears of joy)? Here are some tips to help you win:

• Pass the ball. When you dribble the ball you will be slower than the opposition so it is better to pass and work your way up the pitch that way.
  
• Shooting is peculiar in this game (compared to other soccer games of the time where you'd control the power and direction). When in the final third of the pitch an arrow will move across the foot of the opposition goal. This will be where your shot goes. If you don't shoot before the arrow has moved across the goal then you will need to wait for it to pass across the other way, and shoot before it goes past the other side of the goal. Therefore time your shot to hit the goal, but not straight at the keeper.
  
• Normally your outfield players will be in two ranks, a 2 and a 3, with the middle player being the one to switch from the defensive rank (i.e. a back 3, leaving 2 up front) to the offensive rank (a front-3, leaving 2 at the back). This can mean that you can over-run the defence of the opposition if you have three attackers against two defenders, which can be used to your advantage. Similarly watch out when you lose the ball from this position as your defence can be over-run if there are three opposition attackers against two defenders.
  
• Having tackled a player successfully be quick in getting rid of the ball otherwise the opposition player will take it right back off you.
  
• For corners pass to the player in the middle and shoot, or keep passing.
  
• For opposition goal kicks they always pass to one of the nearby three defenders so you can ready yourself to tackle them and get the ball straight away to maybe set up a chance for yourself.
  
• For your own goal-kicks watch for this so that you don't have the opposition players coming in and nicking the ball off of you straight away.
  

And that's the game.