has he watched the match, if not, I would go with hard tackling strategy, maybe you get lucky and one of his players get injured, you know you already lost the chance to qualify for the next round, I would take this approach.
about tackling, in my first two matches in the cup I played with hard tackling! didn't get any card, even a yellow one, my opponent got 2 in the first match and two in the second!
good luck in your match