Golden Goal, Practice and Normal Modes in A Small World Cup

Three modes on the title screen

The top line on the right of the title screen of A Small World Cup reads MODE:NORMAL. Click it to cycle through the three modes:

Mode	What happens
Normal	Timed matches. The match clock runs for the length set under Settings (45 or 90 seconds) and the score at full time decides it.
Golden goal	No match clock is shown. The first goal ends the match, so one goal either wins it or knocks you out. A cup won this way gets its own message: "won the golden goal cup!"
Practice	You are alone on the pitch with the ball and an Exit button. There is no opponent and no score. Difficulty and Statistics are greyed out while it is selected.

Difficulty

The line under the mode reads DIFFICULTY:NORMAL and cycles through Easy, Normal and Hard. It applies to Normal and Golden goal modes. The game keeps a separate count of cups won on each difficulty, so a cup on Hard shows up apart from one on Easy.

The road through a cup

After you pick a cup and a team, the screen shows seven boxes along the bottom. These are your seven matches:

1. Day 1
2. Day 2
3. Day 3
4. Round of 16
5. Quarter-final
6. Semi-final
7. Final

Before each match the game draws your opponent from the other teams in that cup, shows its flag in the next box, and then puts both team names on a "versus" screen with the stage, for example World Cup Classic match day 1. Press Continue to kick off. Get through the final and the game announces that your country has won the cup.

When a match goes wrong

If you lose, the game stops and asks Take another chance? with two buttons: Home, which returns to the title screen, and Retry, marked with a video icon, which offers the match again. The game also has a pause screen, headed Paused: resume, with Continue and Exit buttons.

Golden goal in practice

Golden goal mode changes how a match feels more than any other setting. With no clock, there is no point protecting a lead or chasing an equaliser: a single goal ends it either way. The cost of a mistake is higher, which is why it is worth getting used to the controls in Practice mode first, then trying a cup on Easy.

The Statistics screen

Statistics on the title menu keeps a running record across every cup you play in this browser:

• Matches played, matches won and matches lost
• Goals scored and goals conceded
• Easy, Normal and Hard cups won

You can wipe the record with Clear statistics under Settings.