Free kicks in FIFA 09 are much different than in FIFA 09, and in some ways, easier to score. There are many ways to score free kicks, but I have found the best two methods are all you really need. One is for close distances and one is for long distances to very long distances. There are, of course, alternate free kick methods that you can use, the Curved Free Kick and the Driven Free Kick.
Curved Free Kick (18-25 yards out)
As stated above, the best distance to use this from is anything closer than 25 yards out. Free kicks in FIFA 09 get so much curve that it is best to almost try and aim AROUND the wall instead of over. This applies to either side, just focus on curling around the wall regardless of preferred foot and the position of the wall.
The amount of power you need is a bit tricky here. If you truly are closer than 25 yards out, then it should not need to reach the yellow part of the power ball, but a bit of yellow is usually fine. Obviously, when you are really close it should be held just a bit longer than a tap. See below for an image of how much power you should need. Power is important, but the most important thing to get right is the aiming, so practice to get it down pat. The stats to look at when deciding who to take this kick are Power and Free Kick Accuracy.
Power bar for Curved Free Kicks:
Driven Free Kick (25+ yards out)
From any distance past 25 yards out that you still think is possible to score from, you should be using the driven free kick. However, you should remember that once you reach around 40 yards out, it becomes very difficult to get it in, but it is still possible from that distance. To score this type of free kick, you want to set it up so that it is aiming right for the corner that the wall is blocking. Keep in mind that these shots have the tendency to shoot just a tiny bit to the left of where you aimed, or to the right for left-footed players, so try to take that into account.
Power is the most important part. For distances of 25-35 meters or so out, you want to have a good bit of yellow in, but not too much. See the first image below for a visual display of this. For distances of 35-40 meters out, you will want quite a lot of yellow in, maybe a bit of orange. See the second image below for a visual display of this.
Power bar for Driven Free Kicks:
Alternate Free Kicks
Although you really don't need to know how do these free kicks, they are nice to know for the curious FIFA player. The three that I will cover are the Rabona, the Lay-Off, and the 2nd Man Free Kick.
Rabona
This one is simple, but quite useless. With a right footed player, you would aim all the way to the left and double tap the shoot button, and this executes a Rabona. A highly skilled player is required to actually be able to do this (i.e. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo).
Lay-Off
By pressing LT for Xbox or L2 for Playstation when setting up for a shot, you set up a lay-off man which stands directly to the right or left of the ball. When you set up this lay-off man, another one of your players will be anticipating the lay off pass, so if you aim directly in front of the lay-off man as far as you can aim the camera and tap the pass button while holding down LT or L2 he will lightly pass the ball to this 3rd player who is ready to shoot. If you can, take a touch towards goal, and then fire one in. This can still be successful even if you have to one-time it, and for some reason, these shots have a very high chance of going in, more so than if it was just a regular shot during regular gameplay from there.
2nd Man Free Kick
This is different from the last method in that you will shoot with the lay-off man instead of having him pass. This follows the exact same principles as the Curved or Driven shot methods. If you are going to curve it in, set up as you would for a curled shot and give it about the same amount of power. The same goes for driven shots with the lay off man, do exactly as you would with a regular driven free kick. Just remember to hold down LT or L2 to ensure that your layoff man takes the shot and not the regular free kick taker.
Practicing Free Kicks
Unfortunately, there is not a practice mode in the next-gen versions of FIFA 09 (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) which I would say most FIFA gamers have. To solve this problem, you must have two controllers, or an online buddy to help you out.
Start a game, pick two teams, one of which has a decent free-kick taker you would like to use. Basically, position yourself where you would like to take the free kick to practice with one controller. Pick up the other controller and foul the player. And there you go, take a shot. If you don't have a second controller, find a friend online who would be willing to play the role of the second controller, or maybe you two could take turns.