Former England forward Wayne Rooney just dropped one of the most brutal verdicts we’ve heard in a long time, calling the World Cup final half-time show “crap.” This wasn’t some quick aside; he was at MetLife Stadium for the Spain vs. Argentina final in New Jersey, watching an event FIFA explicitly extended the interval for, turning a standard 15-minute break into a whopping more than 27 minutes of waiting. You gotta wonder if fans in the stands, or at home, were feeling the same way.
The Verdicts Heard Around The World
Rooney, working as a BBC pundit with Joe Hart and Micah Richards, held nothing back when presenter Gabby Logan asked for highlights. His highlight? “Mine was when it finished.” Ouch. He was clear, “I like a lot of them artists but I thought it was crap. It just didn’t get me going and I wanted the football to come back on.” He even name-checked some massive talent, saying, “I like Burna Boy, I like Bieber, I like Shakira, but that was too flat.” That’s the kind of honesty you get when someone just wants to watch the game. Richards, who actually picked Shakira and Burna Boy as his highlights, couldn’t help but label his former teammate “miserable” for the blunt assessment. And over on ITV, pundit Roy Keane echoed some of the sentiment, calling it “a bit of an anti-climax.” Though he did add that it’s “always nice to see Shakira,” which, fair enough.
The Spectacle Itself: Too Much, Or Not Enough?
So what exactly was this “spectacle” that left Rooney so unimpressed? FIFA president Gianni Infantino had announced plans for it last March, curating an 11-minute show led by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. It brought out the big guns, featuring performances from Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy, and South Korean boy band BTS. Madonna even got driven onto the pitch by Brazil legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho! And if that wasn’t enough, characters from The Muppets and Sesame Street made appearances. You cannot say they didn’t go all out. This extended entertainment, a major feature of US sporting events like the Super Bowl, was staged to support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative aiming to raise $100m (£75m) to expand access to education and football for kids globally. Before the match even kicked off, the closing ceremony featured its own string of stars like Tom Cruise, Robbie Williams, Jennifer Hudson, Nicole Scherzinger, Laura Pausini, IShowSpeed, Post Malone, and Swae Lee. That’s a lot of star power for one day, but did it overshadow the game itself?
When you stretch a half-time break by over 12 minutes, going from 15 to more than 27, you really have to deliver. Rooney’s take makes you wonder if these massive, star-studded productions are truly serving the fans who tune in for the football. Are we going to see more of this in future major finals? Or will some of that brutally honest feedback bring things back to basics, focusing on the beautiful game itself?
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
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