How should I play Guile against Ryu/Ken users?

Question

I'm maining Guile and recently I've been on a lose streak against the same guy who is maining Ken/Ryu (switching one after another), the guy is not that skillful but the deal is:

Every now and then at start of the match he used to jump in at me probably he thinks I'd throw a sonic boom at start, but instead I always crouch down and hit him with flash kick. However, later on in the game, once in a while when he jumps in at me while I'm in crouch down position, I try to execute flash kick or crouch down + HP but none executed (I just appeared idle and I can´t figure out the reason) and I just get knocked out.

How do I improve my game playing as Guile against Ken or Ryu?

Answer 1

There are several things you should be doing against a Ryu or Ken as Guile.

1. Guile's all about getting in close and doing a lot of punch/kick mixes to keep the opponent off balance and guessing. Once he gets in close, there are a lot of things he can do to cause a lot of damage.
2. Charge Buffer your sonic boom. If he wants to go into a fireball fight with you, you can actually win (IN SSF4 they lowered charge time of sonic boom as well) because you build up your EX bar much faster. This is most important, good use of the EX sonic boom can turn a fireball fight into your favor.
3. From what you've typed, it seems like you are sitting in the game a lot while crouched (i.e. turtling). This only works if you have a huge health advantage over your target and the time is running out.
4. If you can't pull off a sonic boom or flash kick when you want to, it usually means you didn't charge enough. As a guile, you should be charging buffering on every single move, even normal moves.

Some specific things to try:

• Lead with a slow sonic boom and walk in behind it to cover distance between you and your opponent.
• Add some throws and focus attacks into your repertoire, remember focus attacks can absorb 1 fireball (and most hits)
• Instead of jumping into him if he throws a fireball, try absorbing it with focus cancel, but don't absorb more than 1 at a time. For the second one, either sonic boom it or jump straight up for the avoid.
• Patience, Guile takes a lot of patience, you have to mentally wear down your opponent and force them to come to you if you can build up a health advantage (don't let yourself get backed into a corner though).

Last thing you can try is watching some good Guiles play, even though Guile lost in this one (he was facing one of the best Ryu players), it demonstrates how he can hold his own in a fireball fight: