I've been playing FIFA on PC for several years now, and I was perusing through the initfs_Win32 file for the game. I came upon the adaptive difficulty if anyone wants to see exactly why the game plays differently under certain conditions. Cheers.
[ADAPTIVE_DIFFICULTY]
ENABLED = 1
[ADAPTIVE_DIFFICULTY_INCREASE_DIFFICULTY]
// Description: "User scores in first 5 minutes"
// WHEN
IF DO
RULE1_PARAM1 = 5 // Minutes
RULE1_OUTPUT = 0.25
// Description: "User scores in first 20 minutes"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE2_PARAM1 = 20 // Minutes
RULE2_OUTPUT = 0.25
// Description: "Score >= 2 goal lead"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE3_PARAM1 = 2 // Goal lead
RULE3_OUTPUT = 0.25
// Description: ">70% possession after at least 20 minutes"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE4_PARAM1 = 70 // Possession percentage
RULE4_PARAM2 = 20 // Minutes
RULE4_OUTPUT = 0.25
// Description: "More than 5 shots in first 30 minutes"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE5_PARAM1 = 5 // Shots
RULE5_PARAM2 = 30 // Minutes
RULE5_OUTPUT = 0.15
// Description: "More than 10 shots on target at any point"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE6_PARAM1 = 10 // Shots on target
RULE6_PARAM2 = 10 // Increments on PARAM1
RULE6_OUTPUT = 0.1
[ADAPTIVE_DIFFICULTY_DECREASE_DIFFICULTY]
// Description: "Losing at any point"
// WHEN DO
RULE1_PARAM1 = 0 // Minutes
RULE1_OUTPUT = -0.1
// Description: "No shot on target within 30 minutes of play"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE2_PARAM1 = 30 // Minutes
RULE2_OUTPUT = -0.2
// Description: "<30% possession any time after 30 minutes"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE3_PARAM1 = 30 // Possession
RULE3_PARAM2 = 30 // Minutes
RULE3_OUTPUT = -0.2
// Description: "<2 shots by 60th minute"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE4_PARAM1 = 2 // Shots
RULE4_PARAM2 = 60 // Minutes
RULE4_OUTPUT = -0.2
// Description: "<4 shots on target 80th minute"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE5_PARAM1 = 4 // Shots
RULE5_PARAM2 = 80 // Minutes
RULE5_OUTPUT = -0.3
// Description: "Losing by 2 goals"
// WHEN IF DO
RULE6_PARAM1 = -2 // Goals
RULE6_OUTPUT = -0.15