Penalties are a pain in FIFA 14. Surprisingly difficult, and arguably easier to score in real life, it can really feel like a game of chance. Sportra has collected some tips and tricks to help you become as cool as Balotelli when taking on goalies from 12 yards.

 

Before learning some tips, it’s important to know the basics of penalties in FIFA 14. There are three basic steps to taking a penalty. The first thing you must do is get the timing right on the ‘composure bar’. This bar will affect your player’s ability to take an accurate kick. Your aim is to stop the white line in the middle (the greenest section). Landing in the red zones will cause him to fall over and sky the ball horrifically high and wide, bringing shame to you and your family. On the next-gen versions of the game, the white bar moves a little faster, so take your time.

 

Next is the power meter, which will begin to build up after you press the shoot button to stop the composure bar. While adding power, use the left stick to aim, the further left or right you move, the faster the invisible cursor will move, making it increasingly difficult to place a shot in the corners. Players with higher penalty stats will have a larger green area in the composure bar, and moving the cursor around the goal will be less sensitive.

 

Now that you understand the basics, let’s take a look at the different ways players can kick the ball.

 

There are three variations other than the standard shot for penalties: the stagger-shot, the Panenka and the placed shot. By pressing shoot a second time during your run-up, you will stutter before shooting. This serves next to ZERO benefit. The reason why, in real life, players stutter their run is to force a goalkeeper into diving early, or fooling them into guessing the wrong way based on the positioning of the kicker’s body. Fake players do not succumb to such mind games, mainly because there are a limited number of animations, and also, they can’t dive before the ball is kicked.