It usually doesn’t matter to kids where they play the beautiful game, whether it’s in the streets of Brazil, or down the park in England, or simply kicking a ball against the garage doors in a backyard in America. And the goals might be just two jackets placed on the ground, or the dimensions of the garage door. Much better would be to get some proper soccer goals. If there’s only a few of you, there are small rebound goals available, so you can practise shooting; if you hit the net, the ball will spring back out at you. These are ideal if you don’t have much space, or if you want to practise shooting, but not running after the ball all the time!

Other, bigger goals are available if you are more serious about soccer and have managed to rustle up a large enough number of players – either to play five or six a side, in which case you should buy some futsal goals, which are smaller than full size (and you play on a smaller pitch area). These are often portable and just fold up when you’ve finished practising.

If you can manage to get enough players together to play with teams of eleven, then it is best to hire a pitch that has full sized soccer goals. You can buy them yourself, but these type usually need to be semi-permanent, as they are sunk into the ground; and you need enough space for the full sized pitch. If this is your goal though, to start up an amateur team, then go for it. Just make sure you practise more often than just when the next World Cup comes along!