The Halftime Show: Fun, Grand, Artificial, and Unnecessary

It's football, but not as we know it. It's American sports entertainment – exactly as we know it. Football crossed a new frontier with the first-ever World Cup final halftime show. The biggest match the sport has to offer was paused for 27 minutes so Justin Bieber could perform a guitar-accompanied song to half the planet, looking ever so slightly bored.

Was the show good? Will we talk about it for years to come? More importantly, was it worth it?

The pre-recorded footage of a smiling, slightly comical Ronaldo 'Fenômeno', stretching his tracksuit to its limits while driving Madonna to the stadium as she sang her old hit 'Music', was both surreal and amusing. Next to her sat Ronaldinho, clearly in his 'Uncle Nile Rodgers' phase.

If we'd gotten a bit more of that – perhaps Luis Figo and Bryan Adams on a motorcycle with a sidecar, or Francesco Totti on a unicycle – we would have had a truly unforgettable show. Despite the excellent choreography and the fact that everything was fun, grand, and colorful, the entire performance felt quite chaotic and ultimately artificial.

Of course, such a show could never appear entirely natural and spontaneous. However, it was clearly a copy of the long-established Super Bowl spectacle, without possessing its integrity. The Super Bowl show is usually built around a single main performer, though it often includes special guests.

Bieber's deeply emotional acoustic version of 'Everything Hallelujah' was wonderful as a standalone performance. Placed between the K-pop group BTS and the joint performance by Shakira and Burna Boy, however, the song struck a false note in a show otherwise brimming with energy.

"Darling, we find love in these moments," Bieber sang. "We don't even have to try. I can sing a song, but words won't be enough, so I said: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, darling."

Alright, but can we please get back to Spain's endless game of rotations and passes? The show itself was relatively decent, especially the football-related parts. Among them was Shakira and Burna Boy's performance of 'Dai Dai' – the song that played at every one of the tournament's 104 matches.

The segment with the Norwegians was good, the 'Ted Lasso' sketch was decent, and the performance of 'Seven Nation Army' – a song that has been a football anthem for years – by Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, an orchestra, and the Muppets characters was great. But everything else? BTS performed a pop song, Bieber suddenly drained all the energy, and then Coldplay, with the help of numerous children from the PS22 chorus, elevated sentimentality to new heights with a song about love.

Throughout, one couldn't help but wonder: why? Why did the greatest footballer to ever touch a ball have to endure the longest halftime break of his entire career so Chris Martin could tell us all to believe in love? This show belonged at Eurovision – the enduringly kitschy annual contest where European nations compete to create the most sentimental song known to humanity.

More precisely, its place was before or after the most important match our sport has to offer. Not during it.

"The best part was when it finished," former England striker Wayne Rooney told the BBC, summing up the thoughts of people over 40 worldwide. "I like many of those performers, but in my opinion, the show was complete nonsense."

The problem from the perspective of football purists is that many of the more casual viewers likely tuned in specifically for the show, not for the football itself. From a financial standpoint, it seems almost impossible for FIFA not to make such performances a mandatory part of future World Cup finals.

Bank of America sponsored the show, Topps acquired its naming rights, and ADI Chain, DoorDash, Kayford Holdings, Marriott Bonvoy, Visa, and YouTube Music also participated. Apple reportedly paid $50 million (£37.2 million) to sponsor the equivalent Super Bowl show. So, we can assume FIFA quite liked the idea and we'll see it again.

"Will there be a halftime show today?" The Athletic overheard a woman ask in Seattle as she entered Lumen Field to watch the USA vs. Belgium match. "I'd watch a lot more football if there were."

And that's precisely the crux of the matter. In the US, at least, halftime shows mean higher viewership, and higher viewership means more money. If that requires abandoning one of football's core principles – that the halftime interval lasts 15 minutes – then FIFA, in a shocking turn of events, will prioritize numbers and revenue over player welfare and global fan preferences.

If the same organization is willing to sacrifice its principles of political neutrality or the idea that the World Cup should be open, free, and accessible to all, we shouldn't be surprised that BTS got a chance to sing one of their hits while Lamine Yamal stretched his hamstrings to avoid getting cold during the longest break of his career.

With hydration breaks, countdowns to kickoff, and celebrities at every turn, did the halftime show fully fit the spirit of this World Cup? Yes.

Should the break have lasted 27 minutes? No.

Do we want such shows to be permanently introduced into football? Absolutely not.

Commentary by Tim Spiers for The Athletic