FC 26 Boosting

EA Sports FC 26 rolled back the previous patch, making dribbling and attacking easier — once again putting pressure on defenses. When a striker or winger with a Finesse Shot or Low Driven Shot enters your penalty area, you have a high probability of conceding a goal.

Good defense requires keeping the ball in the opponent's half as much as possible. However, when the opponent successfully finds a gap in your defense, you cannot panic. Instead, you must use your preparation and defensive experience to respond. Below are some currently effective defensive techniques.

Game Settings

First, it is recommended that you turn off Advanced Defending. This is because X blocking and sliding tackle effects in Advanced Defending in FUT 26 are inconsistent and unreliable. Tactical Defending is much simpler.

When you press the tackle button, the system automatically determines whether to use a standing tackle or a shoulder charge, thus increasing the margin for error. Even in unfavorable situations, the player may only make a short pull to stop the attack rather than recklessly committing a foul that could lead to a penalty.

Furthermore, central and defensive midfielders in FC 26 often lack proper defensive positioning awareness. Even with marking and defensive instructions, they will still push forward. If the full-backs also push forward, it will be very easy for them to launch counter-attacks.

Therefore, setting the full-backs to defensive is the safest option, effectively preventing easy goals and quick counter-attacks.

Defensive Strategy In The Opponent's Half

In the latest version of the game, applying high pressure on the ball carrier in the opponent's half is very difficult and inefficient. Therefore, your main goal isn't to intercept immediately, but to keep your formation compact by pulling players back toward the middle.

You need to control your forwards or attacking players, preventing them from pressing too high, and instead pulling them back to the midfield area to cut off the opponent's passing lanes to the forwards or wingers. Remember, the ultimate goal of defense is to slow down the opponent's attack, forcing them to pass laterally or back, thus buying time for your own defense to set up.

You can stop opponents from making quick forward passes by blocking lanes and keeping your formation tight. When appropriate, you can use offside traps to push the entire formation forward, further compressing the opponent's attacking space and making it difficult for them to find opportunities to pass forward.

If one-on-one defense is difficult, you should try to create two-on-one situations and use Second Man Press to increase defensive pressure. This allows players to tackle more aggressively because even if they make a mistake, the second defender can cover.

You need to have your AI-controlled teammate press the ball carrier, while you control another player to block more dangerous passing lanes. Simply hold down R1 (PlayStation) or RB (Xbox), and a green arrow will appear above your controlled player's head, indicating that another teammate is executing an AI press.

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Defensive Strategy In Your First Half

High-level players are adept at exploiting the gaps between full-backs and center-backs, which are the most threatening areas in attack. Your main task is to cut off passes to this area, so you need to constantly watch out for opponents trying to pass the ball into this area.

Avoid pulling your CBs or CDMs out of position to press unnecessarily. Once out of position, a huge gap will be left in the defense, which skilled players can exploit. You should use DMs or CMs more often to intercept and sweep in midfield, only sending defenders forward when you are sure you can win the ball.

In laggy matches with high network latency or poor responsiveness, manual defending becomes difficult. In this situation, Second Man Press is your best friend. You only need to let the AI make close-range interference while you manually control a player to block the most threatening passing lanes or shooting angles.

You can use L1 to switch between the nearest players, or use the right stick for precise switching to quickly control the player who needs to cover.

Defensive Strategies In Your Own Penalty Area

The new patch significantly enhances Sprint Jockey's effectiveness, so currently the best defenders, regardless of their FC 26 coins value, must have Jockey Playstyles. Players like Naomi Girma and Lucy Bronze have proven to be reliable defenders in the penalty area, allowing you to better mark opposing players making off-the-ball runs.

When the opponent seeks a through ball or passing combination near the penalty area, using Sprint Jockey to control your center-back allows for more effective positioning and prevents them from receiving threatening passes.

You need to hold down L2 and R2 (PlayStation) or LT and RT (Xbox) simultaneously. This action allows your defender to make a quick lateral movement in a ready stance, keeping their body facing the attacker while maintaining speed.

Inside the penalty area, the primary task is not to tackle, but to prevent the ball from reaching dangerous positions. Therefore, you need to utilize all the techniques mentioned above—maintaining formation, using Second Man Press, and especially accelerating to cut off all threatening passes to the opponent's strikers, wingers, or midfielders. If the formation is disrupted, prioritize getting players back into defensive positions to reorganize before looking for opportunities.

The above techniques are only effective after you have a well-established formation and reliable players. Additionally, you need to practice defensive maneuvers in different positions to develop muscle memory, allowing you to react instantly.

Although Halloween is over, FC 26's Ultimate Scream promotional campaign to celebrate the holiday is still ongoing! This campaign offers various gameplay options to bring you more fun and holiday cheer.

Most of these are evolution events that allow you to upgrade weaker players on your team, but the latest Screamers Tournament lets you earn rewards by playing live event tournaments in Ultimate Team!

Below, we'll show you how to complete this new event and some of the better player card rewards it offers.

Screamers Tournament Overview

This event started on November 3rd and lasted for three days, expected to end on the 6th, making it one of the shorter events in FC 26. During this time, you need to build a team and earn event rewards by participating in live event tournaments.

If you've been playing FC 26, you should know that live event tournaments have unique objectives, rewards, and rules based on their theme or type. Therefore, to play during Screamers Tournament, you must meet the following conditions:

• Your team must have at least one Ultimate Scream player.
• Your squad rating should not exceed 88.
• There is a limited number of entries; you can only participate 30 times per day, so please plan your schedule accordingly.

This tournament features 9 reward tiers, each requiring you to complete corresponding tasks to unlock. These rewards are listed below (all rewards are non-tradable):

Score 1:

• Score at least 1 goal in a single match
• Reward - Ultimate Scream Participant Badge Evolution x1

Score A Brace:

• Score at least 2 goals in a single match
• Reward - 82+ Rare Gold Player Pack x1

Score 3:

• Score at least 1 goal in 3 different matches
• Rewards - 82+ Rare Gold Player Pack x1

Score A Brace In 5:

• Score at least 2 goals in 5 different matches
• Rewards - 85-89 Rare Gold Player Pack x1 and Ultimate Scream Competitor Badge Evolution x1

Score 15:

• Score at least 1 goal in 15 different matches
• Rewards - Alimami Gory Player Card

Score 20:

• Score at least 1 goal in 20 different matches
• Rewards - Unknown Evolution x1

Score 25:

• Score at least 1 goal in 25 different matches
• Rewards - Ultimate Scream Competitor Badge Evolution x1

Score 1 Long Range Goal:

• Score at least 1 goal from outside the penalty area in a single match
• Rewards - Unknown Evolution x1

Win Tournament:

• Win a single match
• Rewards - Ultimate Scream Evolution x1 and 82+ Rare Gold Players Pack x1

In addition to the above, Screamers Tournament offers extra objective group rewards, including Isaac Palazón Camacho player card, and x1 Ultimate Scream Champion Badge Evolution and x1 81+ Rare Gold Players Pack.

How To Improve Your Screamers Tournament Completion Efficiency?

Screamers Tournament requires you to use at least one Ultimate Scream player and has a limited number of matches. Therefore, we recommend prioritizing reliable players for your team to avoid lowering your team's overall level and wasting opportunities.

Furthermore, Ultimate Scream player cards will be receiving upgrades for different attributes recently. You can also use match performance to identify cards you deem unworthy of further upgrades and then sell them for FIFA 26 coins when the time is right.

While there are many rewards, some do not require winning matches; simply achieving a certain number of goals is sufficient. Therefore, you can end the match quickly after achieving your objective, without needing to painstakingly complete the entire game.

It's worth noting that if you've already scored a long-range goal and won the tournament, you'll miss the opportunity to earn Score 25 objective reward. To avoid this, you should carefully control your goal-scoring methods before aiming for Score 25.

During Screamers Tournament, Ultimate Scream also offers several related evolution events, such as Curse of the Left, which started on November 2nd. You can utilize these to enhance your players, increasing your chances of completing tournament objectives.

Besides evolutions, you can also earn more coins and card packs by completing recently held SBCs, such as the still-running Ghoulkeeper, to unlock more Ultimate Scream players or other rewards.

Screamers Tournament Reward Players Intro

Aside from the random players hidden in card packs, it's certain that completing all Screamers Tournament objectives will earn you Isaac Palazón Camacho and Alimami Gory.

Isaac Palazón is a versatile player, reliable in forward, right midfield, and central midfield positions. He boasts well-balanced speed, shooting, passing, and dribbling attributes, and possesses multiple skills including one-touch passing and quick passing.

As for Alimami Gory, like Isaac, he can play in multiple positions. His standout stats are his speed and a wide range of skills.

Also Read: EA Sports FC 26 Patch 1.1.1: Top Dribbling Tips And Techniques To Master Gameplay

In general, both players lack a single dominant strength but excel in versatility, serving as a transitional option to fill gaps in specific positions. Using them consistently is also feasible.

Not only Screamers Tournament, but FC 26 has been releasing other new events very frequently lately, making it easy to miss out on the chances to win new rewards.

Therefore, if you are a dedicated FC 26 player, it is recommended that you keep a close eye on the latest game developments in the coming months to ensure you experience all the latest FUT 26 events!