Defense in this game is still soccer plus sabotage. You can slide, shoot, and drop oil, and none of that is a foul, including against your own team. The scoreboard does not care how many people you knocked down.
Stamina
Sprint runs off four pips. Empty them and you are slow until they refill, which is usually when someone slides through you. Hold Shift in short bursts and arrive at the box, the loose ball, or the tackle with at least one pip left. Holding sprint from the kickoff is how you lose the next duel.
On mobile, sprint is a hold and auto-sprint can dump the bar before you are useful. Turn auto-sprint off if that is happening.
Tackles
E is the slide on the illustrated chart. Use it when the carrier is close enough that the slide can meet them. A miss plays a recovery animation and kills your momentum, and the attacker walks past with nobody behind you.
Do not be the third chaser. One player pressures from a side that pushes the carrier away from the easy scoring lane. The next player covers the receiver and the loose ball. If both of you arrive from the same side, one dodge or one gadget removes you together.
A reported kickoff habit is to let an opponent take the first touch and slide as the E prompt appears. That is a timing trick, not a guaranteed steal. Whiff it and they start the attack with you on the ground.
The goalkeeper box
Step into the rectangle in front of your net to become keeper. Only one player holds the role. From there the illustrated guide says you can catch, punch attackers, and throw to a teammate. When the game announces you are the goalkeeper, the on-screen legend switches toward Punch and Dive. Read it before you press the outfield kick button.
Stand on the line between the ball and the middle of the goal. Use the frame and the field lines as the distance cue. Rocks, cliffs, and stadium lights in the background distort depth. If the lines themselves look like distant blobs even at your feet, that is the low-detail mesh issue, not a map with no markings.
Save the first gadget for the committed shot or the entry. Save the second for the rebound or the delayed runner. Deploying both at the first hint of pressure leaves the reset wide open.
Hazards and the question-mark box
Oil belongs on a route the other team must take, with a lane left for your own pass. A barricade should block their shot, not your keeper's eyes. A landmine on your own restart is a teammate problem.
The question-mark block is worth taking when you can touch it without leaving the goal line empty. It is not worth a foot race that turns into their attack.
After you win the ball
Turn once and look for the outlet. A throw or a short pass to the wide player is safer than dribbling out through the same crowd that just shot. If your team is already ahead, add a denial tool and keep one way to clear. If you are behind, do not leave the goal with zero cover just to join the attack.