Wayne Rooney Critiques World Cup Final Half-Time Show as ‘Crap’
Wayne Rooney slams World Cup final half-time show as ‘crap’ after extended break
The first World Cup final half-time show was billed as a landmark moment. Instead, it ran into a blunt, unforgiving verdict from one of England’s greatest forwards.
Wayne Rooney, on duty as a BBC pundit at MetLife Stadium, watched an 11-minute spectacle stretch the interval of Spain vs Argentina from the usual 15 minutes to more than 27. When presenter Gabby Logan asked him for his highlight, he didn’t bother dressing it up.
“I’ll be honest, mine was when it finished,” the 40-year-old said, deadpan.
He wasn’t done.
“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. I like Burna Boy, I like Bieber, I like Shakira, but that was too flat.”
Next to him, Micah Richards tried to inject some enthusiasm, picking out Shakira and Nigerian star Burna Boy as his standout acts and branding his former England team-mate “miserable” for the takedown. Logan, linking back to a BBC promo that had just aired, quipped: “I’ll tell you what else you get on the BBC: honest reviews.”
Honest was one word for it. Brutal was another.
This was FIFA’s grand experiment. Gianni Infantino had unveiled the idea back in March of last year, with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin curating a show designed to fuse global pop culture with the sport’s biggest occasion.
On paper, it was heavyweight entertainment. Madonna was driven onto the pitch by Brazil legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Shakira brought her familiar World Cup pedigree. Justin Bieber was there. South Korean giants BTS took their turn. Characters from the Muppets and Sesame Street wandered into the mix. It was part Super Bowl, part children’s TV, part pop mega-concert.
On screen, though, the reaction from at least some of the football men was cool.
Over on ITV, Roy Keane offered a more measured but still lukewarm assessment.
“It was a bit of an anti-climax, but I think the people in the stadium probably enjoyed it more than us,” he said, before adding with a grin: “But it’s always nice to see Shakira.”
That, in many ways, captured the split. Inside the stadium in New Jersey, the extended break felt built for the American market, mirroring the NFL’s Super Bowl, where the half-time show has become an event in its own right. At home, many viewers – and at least a couple of pundits – were simply waiting for the second half of a World Cup final.
FIFA framed the whole thing as more than just spectacle. The show supported the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative aiming to raise 100 million US dollars (£75 million) to expand access to education and football for children worldwide. The governing body wanted a statement performance with a philanthropic edge, a new tradition for the biggest match in the sport.
The build-up to kick-off had already hinted at the scale of the ambition. Tom Cruise appeared as part of the closing ceremony. Robbie Williams and Jennifer Hudson were involved. Nicole Scherzinger took to the stage, alongside Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini and streamer IShowSpeed. Post Malone and rapper Swae Lee performed before the teams emerged.
By the time the final actually started, the night had already felt like a festival.
Yet it was that long, elongated pause at half-time that will stick in the memory for many inside the broadcast studios. For traditionalists like Rooney, the extended break cut across the rhythm of the match and the essence of the occasion. A World Cup final, in his eyes, doesn’t need a pop revue to justify its status.
The debate will now fall to FIFA. Does football’s biggest game really need a 27-minute intermission packed with global stars, or did Rooney’s blunt “crap” capture what many fans were thinking but didn’t say on air?
