I played for ten years, until I got knee problems and had to stop.
I still love it though and I started teaching my nephew the "triple scissor move" when he was 2.
He still plays his own way though, stopping the ball WITH HIS HANDS. Like seriousy, if you want to learn football, play it a lot and learn to controll every ball with your body/feet, but not your hands.... Seriously.
In the end, nothing in football is more important then good technique, it will give you more time to do something with the ball. So train that. Passing exercises, keeping the ball up in the air, etc, those kind of things. Try focusing on one touch control with your weak foot, making it instantly ready to pass or shoot.
But most of all, just enjoy it. One thing I want to mention is the simple tip while defineding to stand a bit diagnoally. When your in the center, you can drive players away from the goal that way, even when they get by you, they can`t do that much damage. Its a simple way of protecting the box.