Late goals, missed opportunities, misplaced passes – a lot in FIFA 23 can be frustrating when a match goes badly. However, a challenge in FUT Moments takes it to the extreme, says MeinMMO author Max Handwerk.
Since Ted Lasso landed in FIFA 23, a large yellow banner with the word “Believe” adorns the fan curves of my stadium in Ultimate Team. “Believing in it” is always a good approach when you want to secure a dramatic win in football.
But it can also be excessive: Currently, FIFA 23 presents players with a task in “FUT Moments” where “believing in it” is pretty much the only thing you can do to complete it. Because almost everything you do immediately causes you to lose and have to start over.
It’s about the task “Castle Wall” in the FUT Moments collection “Medieval Football”. A challenge that could very well come straight from hell.
Please, please, goalkeeper – stop catching the damn ball
What kind of task is this? I don’t know who came up with “Castle Wall”, but I can vividly imagine the diabolical laughter while crafting this challenge.
The task is: “You are leading by 1 point. Do not gain possession of the ball for 6 minutes and do not concede a goal.” So: Do nothing. Still do not lose. Good luck.
I thought: Sounds exciting, it’s something different, could get a bit tricky. And yes, it is tricky. Because to this day I have not completed it.
So I start the moment, land 6 in-game minutes before the final whistle in the match and the opponent is launching an attack in my half. I have seen this scene so often now that I slowly feel like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”.
Again and again I started the moment, again and again I fail within seconds.
The problem: No matter what you do, almost everything causes the immediate pop-up question of whether you want to restart.
- If you take the ball from the opponent, you have lost – because you have gained possession.
- If the opponent kicks it out, you have lost. A goal kick or throw-in also counts as possession.
- The goalkeeper catches the ball? Unfortunately lost!
- If you do nothing? Well, the opponent scores a goal. Lost!
- You may at least slide tackle or head the ball away. But if the attempt goes to your teammate? Ha, lost.
- The AI defense takes the ball? Yep, also lost.
I saw one last chance in consistently sliding the ball away or if necessary the opposing players. But this tactic was also in vain. Foul the opponent to the ground may work, but it only gets you through time with a lot of luck. If it goes badly, you also hit the ball instead of the opponent’s ankle – and have, you guessed it, lost.
I always had hope when my keeper cleared the ball to a corner and I headed the standard far away afterwards. But generally, that is also not enough to get to the end – somehow the ball still ends up getting to you. And most of the time my keeper just caught the ball, whether from corners or during the run of play. Please, please… stop catching the ball!
Even if the ball is lying freely around, my players automatically run towards it. Unless you do something against the automatic running. And therein lies perhaps the only chance to complete the challenge.
Is there a solution? There is a way that has circulated in the FIFA subreddit and is also suggested on YouTube. And it almost brought me to success.
You first have to bet that the opponent shoots and your keeper clears the ball into nothing, where it stays. Here, my defender actually runs automatically – but you can perform a “Hard Cancel” by pressing L1, R1, L2, and R2 simultaneously. Then the player does nothing – and for some reason the opponent holds back.
Then the ball lies freely, and no one cares what happens with it… until the 89th minute.
That was the moment when the opposing players suddenly all ran like they were stung by a tarantula, took the ball, and shot at my goal as if there was no tomorrow.
My defenders blocked, jumped in between, but they did not regain possession. In the first minute of stoppage time, my mouth curled into a triumphant smile, I thought I had done it – until my goalkeeper of course proved his excellent reflexes once more and caught that last ball with the final whistle.
Then I turned off the console straight away. But that is likely the way to ultimately master this challenge from hell:
- Save the ball.
- Hard Cancel everything, do absolutely nothing.
- Wait for the opponent to come rushing in like crazy.
- Block everything.
- Believe in it.
Overall, the task demands a rather strange way to play a match, and it’s best to just let it be. But after all these attempts, giving up is no longer an option. I mean, what would Coach Lasso say? Eventually, it will work out. Believe.
What do you think of FUT Moments? Is the mode something for you, or do you prefer to save yourself the little tasks? Let us know in the comments! And if you still need players for your team: Many cards are currently cheap on the market.
