ENGLAND NATIONAL TEAM GUIDE PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 3 - TEAMS GUIDE version 1.0 - wowwow (chu_chu00@hotmail.com) CONTENTS: 1. WHAT'S NEW 2. ABOUT THIS GUIDE 3. WHY USING ITALY 4. NATIONAL SQUAD SELECTION 5. FORMATION 6. STRATEGY, TIPS, AND SCORING THE GOALS 7. FREE KICK AND CORNER KICK 8. SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES. 9. QUESTIONS 10. CREDITS ################### ## 1. What's New ## ################### Nothing ######################### ## 2. ABOUT THIS GUIDE ## ######################### England can be the hardest team to use. To find the exact strategy and formation is hard. Actually, 3-5-2B works well but this time I'll try to make a guide that use the true England formation which is 4-4-2C. With 4-4-2C formation, it's easy for your opponent to intercept the ball in the counter attack. Defenders like Ferdinand and Campbell usually make a lot of misunderstandings in the back. James and Robinson doesn't have a good balance, and they usually reflect the ball to opponent's players. After a couple of games, I can understand how hard it was for Eriksson to find the exact formula for England (no offense to England's Fans). This guide aims to make you better when playing a team with 4-4-2C formation. And hopefully, by using this guide, you would feel like you are using the real England National Team when you play. (My next guides will be Holland and France. Probably I'm going to take a break right after I finished the both guides. Need to do some certified exams ^_^) ########################## ## 3. WHY USING ENGLAND ## ########################## England is the country where soccer game was found. England has good speedy players. England is.. I should stop at this point. To tell you the truth, England is not my favorite team, but I found it is challenging to use England. I like England for one reason: Beckham!! Man, he is the true dead ball specialist. He is thousand times better than he was in the last PES. All of his pass can be converted into a goal easily. Even if England is not my favorite team, I still hope that England could win Euro Cup 2004. Weird, huh? Just for fun, below are my favorite teams to win Euro 2004 1. England 2. Germany 3. France 4. Portugal 5. Italy Enjoy!! ################################# ## 4. National Squad Selection ## ################################# ################ ## Goalkeeper ## ################ James - Good defense and response, poor balance and goalkeeping skills. Robinson - Another David James. ############## ## Defender ## ############## Ferdinand - Good defense, response, balance, and speed. Campbell - Good defense, great speed and balance, but low response. G. Neville - Good speed, dribbling, passing, etc. A. Cole - Good speed, dribbling, and passing. He has insane jump too. Brown - He is the only best substitute I can find for the defenders. Southgate - Worst than Brown, but what can you expect? Woodgate - The last defender I can find as a substitute. ################ ## Midfielder ## ################ Beckham - Your primary bet if you want to win every game with England. Great passing, reaction, and free kick accuracy. Actually, He plays better as a second striker in this game. Even Zidane find it's difficult to pass him. But to make game looks real, IMHO, it is better to field him as a winger. Scholes - Your primary second striker. He has good speed, reaction, passing, and shooting accuracy. He works well with Gerrard in the midfield, provide a better security to the defensive line. Your best sharpshooter. Gerrard - Oh man, is it just me or anybody has the same opinion... He actually is another Beckham. Maybe he is slightly better because he doesn't have problem with his left foot :) Dyer - This man is simply amazing because of the speed and the dribbling skill he possesses. Put him on the left to make England becomes more effective in ball possession. He and Ashley Cole are deadly combination in the left flank!!! Hargreaves - Good balance, speed, and passing. Use him as a substitute for Dyer. Lampard - His stats is better than Gerrard's. Unfortunately, he has low response. Joe Cole - The only playmaker you can find for England National Team... Has good dribbling and passing. Play him only if Scholes is injured. ############# ## Forward ## ############# Owen - From his stats, he is the fastest striker in the game. Unluckily he is not that great. It's easy to caught him with the offside trap, It's easy to intercept him, etc. Don't rely on him too much. His Dribbling is good. Use him to supply a cross ball is one of the reasons why you should field him on the pitch. Heskey - IMHO, He is better than Owen in terms of scoring. Good balance, speed, and dribble. Jeffers - Has good speed and scoring abilty. He has insane jump and good header, too. Use him as a starter to help Owen in the air. Smith - Has good speed, dribbling, and scoring ability. Good substitute for Owen. Rooney - Another good substitute for Owen Vassel - The last man I can find as a substitute in this position. ################## ## 5. FORMATION ## ################## Use the default formation!!! Below are how my formation looks like: GK: James/Robinson DF: Ferdinand Campbell G. Neville A. Cole CMF: Gerrard Scholes Dyer Beckham CF: Jeffers Owen Set the attack attitude for Owen and Jeffers to be more aggressive (Red Arrow faces forward) Leave the defense attitude for all players to normal. ################################################ ## 6. STRATEGY, TIPS, AND SCORING THE GOALS ## ################################################ First go to Formation > Team > List Settings set the backline to C, zone press to A, offside trap to B/C, and counter attack to A. The strategy I usually use is Centre Attack, Zone Press, Right Attack, and Counter Attack. The setup above would make England becomes better in defending and possessing the ball. Let me tell you one more time... It's not easy to win with England. Most of England players are small!! Ball possession is extremely hard. France, Italy, Brazil, and Argentine are the hardest national teams to beat!!! What I mean by "Rush" is you quickly send the ball to the frontline and try to score a goal as quickly as possible. You might not agree with me... or you might say "hey I want to grab many goals when I play!!" If you want to score a lot of goals, then it is better to use a team like France. England is not a team that blessed with many excellent players!! Against 5* AI and excellent players, You could score a lot of goals, well, only if corner kick and free kick are your best friends... But how many of you could score a free kick easily... And to convert a pass from corner kick into a goal is not that easy!!! Keep the ball doesn't mean you keep the ball until the end of the game. It's just a strategy that make your players passing the ball around to make the opponent become impatient and chase the ball you are possessing. It's hard to develop the style into your habit ^_^ Player like Ferdinand always does lot of mistakes when defending. It is good if you have a player as a spare around to cover him if he fails to intercept someone. When you play England... dead ball situations are always happen because most of your players don't have good body balance!! You have Beckham. Score a goal is much better than none if it could win you a game. Why? Like I said it is hard to win using England but as long as you remain calm, you would always win the game with England. IMHO, England is designed for calm PES players. ################ ## DEFENDING ## ################ Ferdinand and Campbell Clear the ball anytime it is close to penalty area!!! You could also use them to press any striker running into their zone and use [] to bring another player stealing the ball from behind or push the striker. Be careful, it could be dangerous to trap a striker like that especially if he is close to the penalty area. A. Cole and G. Neville Never ever try to steal or tackle a player if you are not sure!! Just stay close to him, to make sure he doesn't have enough space to cross the ball!! Clear the ball if it is close to the penalty area!! Gerrard, Scholes, Dyer, and Beckham Always use them as your first defensive line!! Try to slow the pressure from the wing with Beckham and Dyer. You could ask Scholes or Gerrard to help them by using []. Learn to defend in group of 2-4 players to make it impossible for your opponent to score. ############### ## Attacking ## ############### Ferdinand and Campbell On counter attack, clear the ball by send an immediate pass to the front. Make sure there is no striker around when you try to pass or you will be in a deep trouble!! A. Cole and G. Neville Most of player and AI use Centre Attack too often. This is good for Cole and Neville, since it leaves enough space for them to run through the wing. If you can make it, simply send the ball to Gerrard or Scholes to let them create some spaces ^_^ Dyer and Cole A very nice combination for England National Team. There are 3 usual tactics for wing players (Sideback and CMF/SMF) 1. On Throw-In, Play One-Two with the player who throw the ball to create some opening for crossing. 2. If Dyer is well guarded you could lure the defender with Dyer to somewhere else to allow Cole running through before you pass the ball to him. 3. You might ask Dyer to play One-Two with Cole if you see some opening. Another way is too play One-Two with Gerrard or Scholes (usually Gerrard) If you find it is impossible to pass the sideback then simply pass the ball to Gerrard or Scholes. Send a through ball to a striker is also a good idea (Only if you see an opening!!) Play one-two with your striker could help Dyer to score. Beckham and Neville They may not as good as Dyer-Cole on the wing. You may apply the 3 tactics that I listed above. But again, your opponent will keep an eye on Beckham as he has the deadliest pass in the game. The other problem is Beckham is not as fast as Dyer!! But Beckham is the second best sharpshooter you have. Never afraid to shoot from outside if you see any opening!! Send the ball back to Scholes or Gerrard if you can't find any space to move. Play one-two with your striker could help Beckham to score. Scholes and Gerrard Don't play one-two between the two players!! It's very dangerous if the ball is intercepted in the process. Gerrard and Scholes are also the best sharpshooters. If you see any of them running to the penalty area, feed him with a pass to score. Scholes is very fast and you could try to play one-two with Beckham if you see an opening. He is also good on solo run but he is not good on 1-1. You could try to shoot from far or simply chip the ball when the goalkeeper is running to you. Use Scholes or Gerrard for crossing is good when Dyer or Beckham is tighly guarded. Owen and Jeffers Play One-Two with Beckham/Dyer or Scholes/Gerrard to create some opening. Owen has good dribbling skills so you might ask him to run into the wing to send a cross ball. Dribbling inside the penalty area is also good because the referee could award you a penalty kick if Owen is pushed. But don't do this too often as it might not works everytime. Jeffers as a good header, so it's not hard for him to convert a corner or a cross ball into a goal. 'Keep The Ball' Strategy Don't pass the ball back to your CBT (Ferdinand and Campbell). because if a fast striker like Henry steal it, you are mostly finished ^_^ Some nice combos are to play the ball between: - Beckham-Neville-Scholes - Beckham-Owen-Scholes - Dyer-Cole-Gerrard - Dyer-Jeffers-Gerrard Watch some premiere league matches to help you understand how to keep the ball (try Arsenal) Keep an eye on a midfielder like Zidane or Vieira, because they can cut your pass easily. (Not only Zidane and Vieira, there are many players who can easily intercept your pass like Emerson, Van Bommel, Davids, etc.) --------------- End of 'Keep The Ball' Strategy ------------------ ####################### ## SCORING THE GOALS ## ####################### It's quite hard to tell you how I score My opener from game to another game usually scored by different player. It could be Neville or Cole. Sometimes Campbell or Ferdinand might interrupt as well... Most of the goals are created from headers... If you think it was Jeffers who did most of the headers then you are wrong... It was Owen ^_^ Can you imagine such a short striker could easily convert a corner or cross pass into a goal with his header? Let me tell you a bit of secret... in this game it's easy for a fast striker like Sheva or Owen to head a ball into the net. They can easily beat a tall defender like Stam :) A fake one-two pass might be useful to create confusion in the opponent's defensive line, which sometimes could create an opening for you to run through the defenders or shoot from outside. ########### ## FACTS ## ########### Below are what usually happens when I play using my strategy. - Players who love to score? All of them except the Goalkeeper ^_^ - My goal average on consecutive wins is 2-0 or 2-1 (5* AI) - My ball possession average against Human and 5* AI is 57-60 percents!! - Most of my goals happened on Injury Time ################################## ## 7. FREE KICK AND CORNER KICK ## ################################## Actually this part is taken from my Italy Guide. Use Beckham to do the Free Kick and Corner Kick because he is the man on these situations. ############### ## FREE KICK ## ############### Free kick is hard to score in the game. This section will show you some free kick tricks that I use everytime I play. If there is any part doesn't work... swap the free kick taker. ################## ## CURLING BALL ## ################## Hold R2 and down, then press square to shoot, and immediately hold analog stick (L3) to the right or left to curl the ball. If you are lucky, the goalkeeper might be stunned by your free kick and does nothing to intercept the ball. Half of the bar is enough. It might turned into a deadly pass. This curling ball trick only works with a player who has low shoot power. ################################# ## PASSING TRICK (range < 20m) ## ################################# Aim near the right hand post, between players' shoulders. Then hold UP-Button and tap circle (Do not charge your power bar!!!). Has possibility of 9/10 to score!! Try to practice it a lot!! Use player with low passing speed like Del Piero. Even a goalkeeper like Toldo has no difficulty to score a goal with this trick!!! Some players will automatically curl the ball a bit. Note: You can replace the UP-button with DOWN-button too... ###################### ## DIRECT FREE KICK ## ###################### To score a direct Free kick easily, Hold R2 and up, press Square until you reach about half of the bar. ############################ ## GROUND LONG PASS TRICK ## ############################ If you are on the left wing or right wing of the goal area, use ground long pass to create confusion in the goal area. And use any player who accepts the ball to shoot. This can be done by holding DOWN-button and press circle until you reach the maximum length of the bar. Use player like Beckham. ######################### ## Beckham's Long Pass ## ######################### Hold Up and press O until 1/4 of the power bar. Then use right or left to curl the ball. You can apply this technique with any free kick taker... but trust me it won't work as good as Beckham's This is very deadly on Injury Time!! It can be volley-ed or headed by your players. Sometimes there is a low chance for your opponent's defender to score an own goal... ^_^ If you can't head it or volley it... just use the player who receive it to control the ball and shoot!! you might try to pass it to another unmarked player. -----------------------------End of Free Kick------------------------- ################# ## CORNER KICK ## ################# On corner kick, use Totti or Del Piero. Half of the bar is good enough. Hold right or left to curl the ball after you pass. ############################## ## 8. SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES ## ############################## Actually some skills are provided in the manual, but it's hard to find which one is the best. ########### ## SHOOT ## ########### Chip Shot 1: Press [] and immediately press R1. This is my favorite style of scoring. Timing is hard. Do the practice, because this is very useful. Only use this when the goalkeeper is close to you. Can be done inside the box. Cool!!! Chip Shot 2: Hold L1 and press []. This is good for 1-1 if the goalkeeper is running towards you. But don't do this inside the box or you will waste the opportunity. ############### ## DRIBBLING ## ############### Side step: While dribbling using R2, press right or left of the direction the footballer is facing. This is the most useful move for winger and playmaker. Good for 1-1. Fake shot: Press [], and immediately press X and any direction you want to move to. Good for 1-1. You may find side step is much better for 1-1 and easier to execute. Pivot: While dribbling (without L1/R1/R2), rotate your right analog stick (R3) 360 degrees. This is another coolest skill. Timing is extremely hard. Once you master, you can escape from any defender easily. Extremely useful for a winger. ############# ## PASSING ## ############# Air Thru' Ball: Hold L1 and press TRIANGLE To most players, this is useless, hard to timing, etc. To tell you the truth, this is the most deadliest passing skill in the game. Use it to cross the ball when you control a winger. The foot the player use is important. For example, Roberto Carlos is a left-footed player. If you put him on the right flank, you don't want to use this technique, because it won't be accurate, except he has BOTH FOOT FEINT skill. (I think) With this, It is easier to volley the ball and doing a scissor kick. Sometimes, this technique can cost your opponent an own goal especially if they use line-defensive on Team Settings... Nice!! Don't use it on Counter Attack. Early Crossing Lv. 2: Hold L1 and tap O twice while running on the wing. Another extremely useful passing skill. And now, Ronaldo could score a header easily!! Use it only on Counter Attack situation. Immediate pass: Hold L1 and press CIRCLE Immediate pass is a pass from anywhere on the pitch that always targeted to the most closest player to your opponent goal area. Use this in counter attack. If your defender recover a ball in the goal area send it to your DMF (Emerson and Gilberto Silva), then do the immediate pass. (try to find some space before you do an immediate pass) ################## ## 9. QUESTIONS ## ################## Q: Where is the "National Team Selection". A: To have the "National Team Selection" listed under "Register Player" in Edit Mode, you need to get "Free Transfer" bonus from PES3 Shop in PES3 Option. It costs you 10,000 PES points. ################# ## 10. CREDITS ## ################# GameFAQS - for posting my Guide :) And you.