Before you start
Defending has the same tap-versus-hold grammar as attacking. A tap is a shove: quick contact that nudges the duel. A hold commits you to a charged tackle: a bigger hit with a bigger promise attached, because every one of its states — hold, release, hit, stumble, fence hit, get-up — is explicit and readable by your opponent.
Step by step
What to actually do
- 01
Take control of the right defender
Switch puts you on a different striker. Defending starts with being the player between the ball and your goal, not chasing from behind.
- 02
Tap to shove
The tap is fast, cheap contact — enough to unsettle a carrier or fight for a fifty-fifty without committing your body.
- 03
Hold for the charged tackle
Holding charges a committed tackle. Land it and the carrier is beaten; the hit and its aftermath are physical, not scripted.
- 04
Pay for the miss
The state chain is honest: a beaten defender stumbles, a striker driven into the boards takes the fence hit, and a knocked-down player has a real get-up. A missed charged tackle takes you out of the play.
- 05
Chase the live rebound
The AI keeper resolves saves three ways: a clean catch, a parry that leaves a live rebound, or knockback under a Power Strike. A parry is not a stop — it is the next duel.
Worth remembering
- Carriers can shield the ball; a shielding opponent is bait for an early charged tackle, and the shield is beaten by patience, not panic.
- The keeper is AI in every mode — your defending job is the four outfield lanes, plus the keeper-dive control when you want the dive timed yourself.
See it in the build
In-engine captures of the screens this chapter refers to, from the governed screens gallery.
