Soccer legend Wayne Rooney was not in the mood to pull punches when discussing the FIFA World Cup Final’s halftime show on Sunday.
For the first time, FIFA staged a halftime show during the Spain-Argentina final, clearly inspired by the annual Super Bowl halftime event. Madonna, Shakira, and Justin Bieber were among those who performed as part of the show.
Rooney, doing analysis of the game for the BBC, offered his instant reaction.
“I like a lot of them artists, but I thought it was crap,” Rooney said.
"What did you think of the World Cup final half-time show?"
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 19, 2026
Wayne Rooney: pic.twitter.com/1j6OQap9Yi
Needless to say, soccer is not used to halftime spectacles. To many fans around the world, the whole thing was strange and out of place. American audiences who are much more used to this sort of thing probably didn’t even bat an eye, though.
Rooney is presumably used to some American traditions based on his time as an MLS coach. Safe to say he will not be advocating for the English to import the halftime show, though.
