If you're new to World of Soccer Online (WoSO from now on), you are probably struggling. It can be daunting trying to get to grips with the controls (which are hardly explained) while getting whooped by seasoned pros in your first game. Just remember that even those pros were once a noob like you and also struggled to pick up the ball or score.

This guide is aimed at helping you deal with the initial challenges of learning the game. I'll explain the controls and also give you some general tips on how to play better. This guide only covers playing matches - I'm not going to cover joining or creating teams, leagues etc.

If you are a real newbie, I suggest you just read the sections on how the controls work first, and then go and practice by playing the tutorial and/or training matches. You want to have a basic grasp of how everything works before you read the later sections. Read the section on offside if you have no idea how offside works!



If you're an experienced player reading this guide, feel free to suggest improvements. I'm still a noob myself, albeit with enough experience to be able to help others master the initial challenges when starting out with the game. The more we can help new players enjoy the game, the better for all of us.

Controls in WoSO are pretty simple once you've understood them. The first thing I suggest you do is configure your controls to something you are comfortable with.

You can play with either mouse, gamepad or keyboard. I would strongly recommend not using the keyboard to move; the restriction to 8 movement directions puts you at a significant disadvantage.

Configure your controls on the Input tab in the Configuration dialog displayed when starting the game. Most of the controls are pretty self-explanatory; the buttons however are not. You'll notice that the name of the "Control" you are assigning is a non-descript "Fire1" etc. for the buttons.

The controls are somewhat different for mouse and joypad.


I'm going to refer to the joypad controls as "pass", "lob" and "shoot", which is similar to how they're handled in the tutorial.Here's what the names of the controls in the dialog correspond to if you're using a joypad:
JoypadFire1: Shoot
JoypadFire2: Pass/autopass (tap to autopass)
JoypadFire3: Lob/slide tackle

If you're using the mouse, the default setup probably makes sense. LMB is for powered balls, RMB is autopass/header and MMB is for slide tackles. If you want to reconfigure the controls, here's what the names correspond to:
MouseFire1: Pass/shoot/lob (powered balls, variable height)
MouseFire2: Slide tackle
MouseFire3: autopass/header


Now that you've set up your controls, you probably want to play the in-game tutorial for a practical introduction to the very basics. Note that the tutorial refers to the controls with slightly different names, and a tick is displayed next to the name of the button you are pressing once you have completed the "Run to the ball" step.

So now you know what button does what. Let's look at your different options.

• Tap the pass button and move your joystick in a direction to autopass the ball in that direction. Use autopass to ping around short passes quickly by tapping pass as you get the ball. Warning: If no teammate is within range, autopass does nothing.

• Low passes are always played on the ground.
  
• Hold down the button to power up the pass and move your joystick or mouse cursor to aim. Use this to play low through balls etc.
  
• You can power up a pass before you have the ball. Hold down the pass button and keep it held until you pick up the ball. Then release the button. You can move your player while the pass is charging (unlike when shooting).
  
• Use the pass button to head the ball by holding the button while the ball is within your player's area of control.
  
• When playing with bots, pressing pass when a bot has the ball will tell the bot (including the goalkeeper) to pass to you. Don't be a noob and call for the ball when you are marked.

• Direct your shot using the mouse cursor or your joystick.
  
• The height of a shot can be varied. Hold down the button for longer for more height and power. Vary the height of the ball by moving your joystick closer to the centre position before releasing the button.
  
• You can power up a shot before you have the ball. Press down the shoot button and keep it held until you pick up the ball. Then release the button. You can use this to clear the ball under pressure, unlike a lob (where you will slide if you don't have the ball). Note that (unlike pass) , you cannot change the direction you are moving or the speed you are moving at while holding down shoot, so line up your run first such that you will intersect the path of the ball.
  
• Tapping the shot button kicks the ball ahead of you very slightly. Use small taps to dribble the ball faster by knocking it ahead of you, and to control balls in the air and bring them down.
  
• Despite me calling this shooting, you can also use these balls to pass. It's particularly useful for longer direct passes. Just watch your power, it's easy to overhit these balls.

• The lob button always plays the ball in the air.
  
• Hold down the button and direct your pass before releasing the button. The longer you hold down the button, the higher and further the ball will be played. You can also change the height of the ball by moving your joystick closer to the centre position before releasing the mouse button.
  
• Use lobs to play long balls upfield, cross from the wings or to chip the ball over opponents (they can intercept balls on the ground)
  
• You can use lob to clear the ball if you have time. Because the lob button causes you to slide tackle, you cannot charge up a lob when you don't have the ball at your feet.

When not in possession, use the lob button to make a slide tackle.

• A slide tackle is always made in the direction you are facing. If you win the ball, it will travel in that direction. Quickly change direction before making a tackle to send the ball in the right direction.
  
• The faster you are running, the further you slide. Slow down to slide less.
  
• There are no fouls, you can hack down players with impunity.
  
• Getting up from a slide tackle takes time. Don't commit yourself without cover. If you lack cover, stay on your feet.

So now you know what button does what. Let's look at your different options. Note that I play with a controller, so apologies if I got the mouse controls wrong.

• Move your mouse cursor to where you want to pass and press RMB.
  
• Use RMB to head the ball by holding the button while the ball is within your player's area of control.
  
• When playing with bots, pressing RMB button when a bot has the ball will tell the bot (including the goalkeeper) to pass to you. Don't be a noob and call for the ball when you are marked.

When using the mouse to play, the LMB is used to play powered passes, lobs and shots. What type of ball you play is determined by how far your mouse cursor is from your player. The amount of time you hold down the mouse button determines the power of the shot (longer = more power).

The following applies to the LMB in general:

• You can power up before you have the ball. Hold down LMB keep it held until you pick up the ball. Then release the button. Note that you cannot change the direction you are moving or the speed you are moving at, so line up your run first such that you will intersect the path of the ball.
  
• Tapping the button kicks the ball ahead of you very slightly. Use small taps to dribble the ball faster by knocking it ahead of you, and to control balls in the air and bring them down.

I've split this up by passing, shooting and lobbing, in much the same way as the tutorial does.

• Moving the mouse cursor away from your play plays low passes on the ground.
  
• Hold down the button to power up the pass and move mouse cursor to aim. Use this to play low through balls etc.

• Moving the mouse cursor a medium distance from your player plays a shot (medium height ball). Direct your shot using the mouse cursor.
  
• The height of a shot can be varied. Hold down the button for longer for more height and power and vary the height of the ball by moving your mouse cursor closer or further from your player before releasing the button.
  
• Despite me calling this shooting, you can also use these balls to pass. It's particularly useful for longer direct passes. Just watch your power, it's easy to overhit these balls.

• Moving the mouse cursor close to your player plays the ball high in the air. Lobs are higher than shots.
  
• Hold down the button and direct your pass before releasing the button. The longer you hold down the button, the higher and further the ball will be played. You can also change the height of the ball by moving the mouse cursor closer to your player.
  
• Use lobs to play long balls upfield, cross from the wings or to chip the ball over opponents (they can intercept balls on the ground)

When not in possession, use the middle mouse button to make a slide tackle.

• A slide tackle is always made in the direction you are facing. If you win the ball, it will travel in that direction. Quickly change direction before making a tackle to send the ball in the right direction.
  
• The faster you are running, the further you slide. Slow down to slide less.
  
• There are no fouls, you can hack down players with impunity.
  
• Getting up from a slide tackle takes time. Don't commit yourself without cover. If you lack cover, stay on your feet.

Football is a team game. Mastering the controls is only a small part of being a good player. Much more important is to understand how to play well in a team. A team made up of decent players will generally beat a team made up of pros that don't play as a team. Even if you're still new to the game, you can make a world of difference to your team by playing smartly.

Quite often you'll see games of WoSO where all the players on one team follow the ball around like schoolkids. Don't do this. At most one player on your team can ever have the ball. If your teammate is going to be the first to the ball, you need to move to the best position to support your teammate. This can mean either running into space to offer them a passing option, or by dropping into a holding role in defence.

Understanding your role in your team is important. Roles can be fluid, and you need to be able to adapt to the match and your teammates.
Successful teams will often adopt an approach where one player stays forward when defending (goalhanger/Inzaghi) and one player stays back when attacking (sweeper). The remaining players will generally either look to offer passing options in attack or cover passes and mark players in defence.
These roles can change according to circumstance. Even if you've been playing up front all game, you need to stay back if you end up being the last man when your team makes a break. Don't charge forward and leave your own team vulnerable to a counter-counter-attack. If there's no one back defending, you will almost certainly concede if this happens.

If you don't understand offside, read the section on offside!

Don't stand around in offside or hang around in front of your goal playing the opponents onside. You're helping the other team if you do this. Be respectful to your teammates.

If you are chatting or quickly afk to get a drink etc. position your player so that you don't interfere with the game and mess up the offside line. Standing on the halfway line, especially out on the wings, should be a safe bet. If you're going to be afk for a while, leave the game. After a goal is scored, you will be standing in your own half, and this really screws with your team's defending as you will end up playing everyone onside.

You can drastically improve you team's chances - even as a noob - by defending sensibly. A lot of defending is about positioning and working as a unit. You don't need to have mastered the controls to make a significant difference here.

Defending isn't just about winning the ball back. At its heart, defending is about preventing the other team from scoring. And that means preventing them from getting into good shooting positions with the ball.

Making it difficult for your opponent to get into a good scoring position forces them to move the ball about. This gives your teammates a chance to get back to help defend, and increases the chances of your opponents making a mistake. A lot of the time, balls are won back by intercepting misplaced passes, rather than by winning the ball directly off an opponent.

So how do you make life difficult for your opponent?

The biggest threat to your goal is from directly in front of it. Defend that area first. Players on the wings are much less dangerous. If the ball is on the wings and there is a player in the centre who is unmarked, mark the player in the centre and try and cut out the cross. You can give up possession of the ball in less threatening areas if you need to deal with a bigger threat elsewhere.

If you're facing a 1v1, block the direct route to goal. Try and keep yourself positioned between your opponent and your goal, and see if you can force them wide or back. Remember that players on the wing are not a high scoring threat themselves, but be wary of crossing options as the opposition pour forwards. Don't commit to a slide tackle if you don't have defensive cover.

If you're outnumbered on the defensive, cut out the passing lanes. Make sure that the player with the ball can't easily play a pass to a better positioned player. Don't get drawn to the player with the ball if he has a teammate who is in a dangerous position. If the pass gets through, it's probably a goal. Position yourself between the two players, so that you can cover your goal if a pass is played while not leaving an easy route or shot on goal.

Force the player with the ball wide if there's a quick break and then cover the centre. Clear the ball for a throw-in if you can. Force players to take a less direct route by using the threat of a slide tackle to shepherd them.

Remember that a player running with the ball at his feet is slower than a player without the ball. By cutting out the passing options and forcing a player to keep hold of the ball, you slow down his team's approach play.

Another effective means of slowing down play is to use the offside line effectively...

Note: If you don't know how the offside rule works, see the separate section on offside first.
The offside line is a powerful defensive weapon that you can use to help defend against multiple opponents. Because you can't pass to a player in an offside position, every opponent who is offside is taken out of the game and no longer a threat. Using the offside line effectively can nullify any advantage an opponent has in numbers as long as you position yourself correctly.

A common mistake is to drop deep when defending, often accompanied by a cry for help ("nobody is helping out at the back, I'm outnumbered"). If you find yourself constantly outnumbered in front of your own goal, chances are you are dropping too deep in defence. If you drop deep and play the opposition onside, you give them a lot of the pitch to play in. If you push up the offside line to roughly the level of the ball, you can squeeze the space, forcing your opponents to play sideways or backwards. Don't leave acres of space in front of the player with the ball to choose their forward passes. Remember that the ball moves faster than a player does; if you allow the opposition to play forward passes, your teammates will never be able to get back to help you, because they are slower than the ball.

In general:

• Push up to at least the halfway line when on the attack. Opponents cannot be offside in their own half, so don't leave an unmarked opponent on the halfway line. A good counter-attack will lead to a goal against you if you do.
  
• Try and push up (or drop back) to roughly the level of the ball when defending to squeeze the space. If you're playing against a lot of fast (small) VIPs, you might want to defend slightly deeper to negate their pace advantage, just don't overdo it!

Don't slide tackle unless there is cover or you absolutely need to (e.g. a last ditch tackle to stop an otherwise certain goal). Stay on your feet if at all possible. If you miss your slide tackle, your opponent will be past you, and if you are the last man, that means a free route to goal. Either use shoot/LMB or pass/RMB to try and win the ball instead, or simply usher the player where you want him to go.

You can hamper the opponent's attempts to get into space or pick up the ball by using your player to block the opponent. Shielding an opponent running to pick up the ball can sometimes give your teammates vital time to get to the ball first, or give them time to make a good clearance without pressure or the threat of a slide tackle.

If your team has dropped back to form a cohesive unit and there are no immediate threats to your goal, the time has come to start trying to win the ball back. One or two players (who will change as the ball moves) need to move and pressure the player with the ball, either to win it back directly or to force a mistake. If two players go after the same opponent, you can work together to win the ball, either by caging him in, forcing him in a particular direction, or using brute force - one of you decks him with a slide tackle and the other picks up the ball.

Just make sure that you don't leave massive gaps in your defence as you press. Watch your teammates and the opposition and shift accordingly as the ball moves. Sometimes you'll need to drop back or switch sides to take the place of a teammate who is pressing.

Probably the most important thing to remember is that you can't be offside from a throw-in. Pay special attention to players running down the wings into space or players in front of goal. A well placed throw-in can open up your defence. This is a case when you want to drop deeper than the opponents when defending. Once the throw-in has been taken, move up again as a unit once the opportunity arrives and compress the space using the offside line.

In general, try and stay goal side of your opponents when defending; don't give them the opportunity to run onto the throw-in and leave you behind them. Don't leave unmarked players if possible and mark players according to their threat level (highest threat first, i.e. unmarked in the centre).

Your goalkeeper's kicks
When your goalkeeper takes a goal kick, you normally want to have at least one player on your team stay back around the edge of the penalty area in front of where the ball is being kicked from (sweeper). This player's job is to sweep up and deal with any threats that arise if the opponents win the ball and move in on goal. Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of leaving no one back in the centre as a sweeper, as this leads to cheap easy goals.

Opposition goalkeeper's kicks
When the opposition's keeper takes a goal kick, at least one defender should drop back from the halfway line the moment the kick is taken in case the keeper plays a long ball and everyone misses the first bounce. By dropping back immediately, you should have enough time to pick up the ball and look for a passing option upfield to clear the ball to. If you are the last man, don't go for the header in case you miss it. Let the ball bounce if you have to. If an opponent wins the header, you still have them covered, but if you miss the header and your opponent races through, that leaves them with a clear route to goal with no defenders.

Corners can provide a very easy opportunity to score. When defending a corner, a good tactic is to position yourself in one of the corners of the goal, ready to get try and clear the ball with pass/RMB button pressed. The goalkeeper will cover the center of the goal; header into the corner are a big threat that the goalkeeper can't handle.

If the corners are covered, pick up one of the opponents who is unmarked. Again, try and anticipate the cross and If the ball is coming to your area, position yourself correctly so you can head it away. This takes some practice to get right.

You can also use your player to block other players from contesting the ball as the cross comes in. This isn't infallible though; a well-timed slide tackle that connects with the cross will take you out and probably score. On the other hand, a well time slide tackle can also take out the opposing strikers before they can get to the ball.

There are a couple of other hotspots around the edge of the box that are particularly dangerous; if the corner taker crosses directly to a player standing there who has precharged their shot, they will score 9 times out of 10. You'll soon learn where these danger zones are. If you see an unmarked player hanging out in one of those areas not moving, pick him up and make sure he doesn't get a chance to shoot. EIther intercept the ball or take him out with a well-time tackle.

From 4v4 up, it normally makes sense to leave one player upfield when defending corners. If your team wins the ball, counter quickly and get the ball upfield to that player ASAP.

Attacking requires more skill and experience with the controls than defending does to be effective. However, there are still a few easy things you can do to help your team be more effective on the attack.

Watch your teammates and keep an eye on the pitch overview on the left of the screen to see which of your teammates are in a good position and unmarked. When playing longer passes, power up the shot first and try and play it relatively high (lob/shot). Low balls (pass button on the joypad) are much less effective for long range passes.

As well as passing directly to teammates, practice playing the ball into space so your teammates can run onto the ball. Even if your passes don't always find their intended targets, your teammates will appreciate the effort.

If you find yourself further back when your team is attacking, position yourself so that it's easy to pass to you if a teammate runs into trouble. Make sure there are no opponents around so you have time to collect the ball and move it to another player before you come under pressure. Sometimes your team will need an outlet. Shifting the ball from flank to flank can be particularly effective in this role.

At least one player should always stay back and cover the most advanced opponent (who isn't offside) in case you lose the ball and the other team counters. Too often, everyone in a team will charge forward, leaving your team exposed at the back for a cheap easy goal. If you are the furthest back when your team goes on the attack, this is your job.

A very effective - though rarely acknowledged - skill on the offence is to act as a decoy. If you find yourself being shadowed by an opponent, look to see if you can't drag them into a less effective position (e.g. out wide, away from the ball) to create pockets of space for your teammates to exploit. This sometimes opens up the defence completely.

Try and find space and offer passing options. If the ball is out on the wings and the centre is free, move into the box for a cross. If you're on the break and don't have the ball, take up a position alongside the player with the ball to give him a passing option if necessary. This forces defenders to make a decision, and can force them to make a mistake.

Autopass is pretty easy to get the hang of. Because autopass is instantaneous and doesn't require you to power up, you're less likely to get tackled as a noob if you use it. To use autopass, tap the pass button while aiming in the direction of a teammate.

Before attempting to dribble, you should check that your team has cover back in case you lose the ball. Dribbling is generally fine if you are up front alone without good passing options, and can be effective in creating space for a pass or cross. Getting defenders to commit to a slide tackle takes them out of the match for a few seconds. Just make sure you don't get taken out too!

What you should not try and do is single-handedly dribble through the entire opposition's defence, as nothing will infuriate your team more. Except maybe dribbling around in defence before losing the ball and conceding a goal. Don't be that noob! If you're under pressure in defence and have no passing options, clear the ball upfield or into touch.

One of the biggest problems players have when starting out is figuring out how to score. Now there are many ways to score in WoSO, but the basic principle behind most of them is to aim for the corner of the goal.

With that in mind, I'm going to show you how to score the easiest type of goal in WoSO (IMO). Once you can score like this, you'll start to get the hang of where to place the ball and how much power to use.

I suggest you try this out on an empty server first, so you are under no pressure and can practice scoring until you feel comfortable.

Pick up the ball and run towards goal. Take up a position so that you are running up (or down), straight towards the corner of the goal. You can use the stripes on the pitch as a guide - you want to be just outside the central strip. A picture says more than 1,000 words:


The next thing is to aim. Because of your positioning and the direction you are running, this should be easy. Hold down shoot/LMB and keep aiming in the direction you are running, i.e. more or less straight up (or down). If you are standing just outside the box, as in the screenshot above, you can fully power up the shot. Note that I'm using my joystick to aim, not the mouse cursor!


As long as you aim for the corner, you'll score...



Once you have the basics down, experiment with different powered shots, approaching the goal from different angles, and varying the height of your shots (by moving your mouse cursor or joystick).

If a player is offside when the ball is played, a small flag flashes in the top left corner of the field. If the offside player comes close enough to the ball, a free kick is awarded. There is no indication which player was offside.

Note: If you understand offside, you can probably skip most of this section, but do read the note at the end about the idiosyncrasies of offside in WoSO!

If you don't know what offside is, it's pretty simple: essentially there needs to be 2 players from the other team between you and the goal at the moment the ball is played to you by a teammate. One of these 2 players is normally the goalkeeper - so in practice, there generally needs to be one defender who is closer to goal than you are. In other words, you can't just hang around in front of goal hoping for a pass. There's slightly more to offside, but that's it in a nutshell.

The following screenshots illustrate how this works. My team (the red team) are attacking the goal in the screenshots.

Here I'm just onside. The blue line is the offside line. If I had crossed that line, I would be offside.

Having kept on running, I've now reached an offside position. The red line is where I am on the field, while the blue line is the offside line.

Note how my team mate (to the right) is clever enough to have taken up the perfect offensive position - onside but with acres of space between him and the goal.

There are a few caveats that I should mention:

• You can't be offside if you are in your own half
  
• You can't be offside if you are behind the ball
  
• You can't be offside at a throw in - this is why you'll see players running down the wings for throw-ins.

Not understanding how offside works can be a great way to annoy your teammates. This applies both offensively and defensively. Here are a few basic tips on how to be less noobish:

Attacking

• If you want to goal hang and offer a long ball option, either wait on the halfway line or make sure there is a defender between you and the goal.
  
• If you are standing in offside and are in the path of the ball when a teammate knocks the ball forward to dribble faster or shoots at goal, it will be called offside. If a teammate is clean through, don't get in their way and cause an offside when they're going to score. You'll quickly be unpopular if you do this regularly. Get out of their way and drop back and offer them a passing option in case they need it. Whenever a teammate is clean through, stay behind the line of the ball.
  
• If you were offside when the ball was played, don't pick up the ball. As soon as another player (from either team) touches the ball (except a slide tackle, see below), you can go for the ball. You can allow a defender to pick up the ball and then tackle them, for example.

Defending

• Watch your teammates. Don't drop back and leave 3 opponents onside when the rest of your team has pushed up. This only makes things easy for the opposition. Use the offside line to compress the play and slow down the attack, giving your team time to come back. If you drop deep, the opponents can pass forwards, moving the ball quicker than your teammates can run back. Making it easy for the opposition is the opposite of good defending.
  
• Push up to the halfway line when your team has the ball. Don't follow opponents into your own half, let them be offside if they want. That's one threat less you need to deal with.
  
• When outnumbered, use offside to your advantage. Play the passing options offside if possible. Force the player with the ball to go it alone. Because players move slower with the ball, this gives your teammates a chance to charge back and help out.

Note for players who DO understand offside
WoSO doesn't implement offside exactly according to the laws of the game:

• The free kick is taken from the position that the offside player touched the ball, not where they were when the ball was played.
  
• Slide tackles do not reset the offside flag (this is probably a bug). This means that after endless sliding rallies, an offside may be called that doesn't make any sense; the player called offside hasn't been offside for a while. It also means that it's possible to use slide to pass to a teammate who is standing in an offside position, as long as they were not offside before the slide (check the offside flag icon is not flashing at the top left).

I hope you've got something out of this guide. I have intentionally left out some "tips" that I would consider exploits, and I would really appreciate it if you don't post exploits in the comments section. If you are unsure if something is an exploit, then it is (the fact that you needed to ask that question is answer enough). Aside from these omissions, there are also a few things I might go into at some point:

• Attacking set pieces, including controls when taking throw-ins
  
• Playing with bots
  
• Backpasses to the keeper
  
• Balancing teams and how to change team

If you feel that there's something else missing, have any feedback about this guide, or have spotted a noobish mistake, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

7/11/15: Guide published
16/11/15: updated controls with separate explanation for mouse and joypad. feedback on mouse controls much appreciated, as I play with a joypad.
17/11/15: updated remaining guide with mouse and joypad controls where relevant. I hope I haven't missed anything...
30/11/15: I missed a few joypad only sections after all.
2/12/15: Split controls into mouse keyboard sections for easier access from contents. Added some minor info relating to collisions in the new update.
18/2/16: Updated corners and goal kicks to reflect the changes in the last patches. Fixed a few mistakes regarding the mouse controls.