The perfect place to learn how to flop. Photo by Nicole Anderson

Despite previously being thought of as a socialist plot to undermine real America, soccer, or football as literally the rest of the world calls it, is getting more and more popular every year. Which is weird, because it doesn’t even have the massively consequential, brain-jarring violence of American football. Still, recognizing the reality of the situation, Brooklyn Bridge Park was planned with several soccer fields in mind, and yesterday Mayor Bloomberg announced they were open to the soccer-fiending public.

The three fields on Pier 5 can either be used as one regulation-sized pitch or split into three for youth games, for parents with little Wayne Rooneys on their hands (uh, maybe they should pick a different soccer hero though). Youth leagues and school teams can reserve the fields through a permitting process, but they’ll also be available for public use for people tired of trekking all the way to the East River Park field to get their slide tackles and flopping in.