Craig,
It gets easier with practice, but you're still going to be very limited with your current camera. Manufacturers just don't put the focus tracking ability in the digicams - there's really not a good marketing reason to do so - and, it's one of the tougher things to figure out. The problem with "context" is it's often boring - you want players that are engaging one another. For example:

Sure the shot could have been taken while defender was still coming over - but there's no story there. And again there's the boring backgrounds. By waiting until the players are engaged, the shots have more tension - and there's less distracting background. Also, isolation shots can be great too:
Now, these shots are with a different camera entirely - my only point was to show some styles of shots. In the end if you shoot tight you'll have less keepers but the keepers you do have will be much better. Give it a try for a game and see if the quality of your keepers doesn't go up.