Summary
Earlier this year, football lawmakers Ifab and FIFA toyed with the idea of introducing blue cards and sin bins to the highest levels of football competition. The proposal was met with almost universal criticism, with one Premier League manager suggesting it would “destroy the game”. Suffice to say,the idea was swiftly binned.
Although the move never took off in the real world, that hasn’t stopped EA from implementing something similar to the latest iteration ofEA Sports FC, withEA Sports FC 25featuring both blue cards and timeouts for players.
Referee!
EA Sports FC 25, whichwe recently got to go hands-on with, will feature a brand-new mode called Rush. The mode is an evolution ofVolta,which firstappeared in FIFA 20. It focuses less on the FIFA Street-style flicks and tricks that the mode became synonymous with and more on fast-paced, free-flowing football.
Played on a smaller pitch with no walls and with rules akin to those in five-a-side football, Rush is where players will see the dreaded blue card introduced.
For any foul committed, a blue card will see the offending player sidelined for one real-time minute. With games lasting eight minutes and having no half-time, losing players for a minute a pop will leave you at a significant disadvantage. Alongside this, EA has added further caveats to the rules, with three blue cards at any one time handing an automatic 3-0 victory to the opposition team.
For those worrying football traditionalists among you, Rush will still feature red and yellow cards. A yellow card will be brandished for a foul that’s deemed more serious, and a red card for one even more serious than that, or, of course, two yellows.
You can check outour preview of EA Sports FC 25’s Rush mode, which we said ended up feeling like “a watered down version of the real thing.Like watching a movie at 1.25x speed, it just doesn’t hit the same when it’s faster.”
EA Sports FC 25
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EA Sports FC 25 is the next iteration of the long-running football simulation series, formerly known as FIFA. It introduces an overhaul of positional tactics, named FC IQ, as well as the new 5v5 Rush mode.
