Mike LaBelle shows how FUT Birthday João Cancelo can be a great striker

Pro FIFA player Mike LaBelle has demonstrated how João Cancelo’s FUT Birthday card can actually be utilized as a pretty decent striker in the game.

With the FUT Birthday celebrations finally hitting FIFA 20 Ultimate Team, EA SPORTS have revealed an all-new set of cards for players to unlock and collect.

The annual FIFA Birthday in-game celebration is in its 11th year for FIFA 20, and the card available for Portuguese defender Cancelo actually seems to make a fairly potent striker as well, according to LaBelle.

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To challenge himself with the new FUT Birthday packs, LaBelle put together a team composition with Cancelo up top in the striking position. Coming out as a Right Back in the starting 11, the first major downside to putting the Manchester City defender in attack is his abysmal 59 finishing.

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To counter this, the FIFA pro employed the sniper chemistry style, which upgraded Cancelo’s finishing ability by an extra 15.

“We’re hoping this chemistry style gives him that bump that is necessary, absolutely necessary,” LaBelle explained. “In-game, we’re gonna roll with the 4-4-2. We are not sitting back, we are not waiting. Aggressive defense equals easy offense.”

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Despite plenty of opportunities, LaBelle’s attacking Cancelo failed to find the back of the net in the first game, which left all the heavy lifting up to Antoine Griezmann, another that’s available as a FUT Birthday special card.

As the matches go on, it becomes clear that João has plenty of potential as a striker, but you really shouldn’t be relying on his dribbling skills to get anything done.

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Instead, he seems to perform better when feeding crosses or passes to his other attackers, or taking shots off of the rebound – which sounds a lot like a modern full back, anyway.

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While the Portuguese defender will probably never be an elite striker, how well he’s able to fit into the position in FIFA 20 Ultimate Team goes to show how powerful the new FUT Birthday cards are this year.

Just don’t go putting somebody like Kylian Mbappé as your keeper, because there’s no team chemistry bonus in the world that would make that a viable strategy.