Madonna opened the first World Cup half-time show with her 2000 dance-pop hit ‘Music’ joined by star Brazilian football stars of yesteryear Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

It started with an apparently pre-recorded piece in a roller rink before she rode into the stadium on a dune buggy, singing “Music, makes the people come together”.

But the half-time show was soon brought down by an unusually slow change of tempo from Justin Bieber.

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel led an orchestra through the White Stripes’ sports anthem ‘Seven Nation Army’ while Animal and other Muppets bopped and shook.

K-pop sensations BTS took to the field in red and black moments later singing ‘Dynamite’.

Ted Lasso’s Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, in character, then pumped up Bieber, who performed ‘Everything Hallelujah’ with an acoustic guitar in hand.

Shakira and Burna Boy then raised the mood again to perform their anthem ‘Dai Dai’, heard before all 104 kick-offs in this tournament.

The show wrapped with a chorus of students from Staten Island with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who is credited with organising the show, joining the group as well as The Muppets’ Miss Piggy and Kermit.

England great Wayne Rooney was blunt on the BBC after it wrapped up.

“I’ll be honest ... I like a lot of them artists, but I thought it was crap,” he said, as his co-hosts questioned whether Bieber brought him down.

Rooney added: “Yeah, it was too flat.”

Earlier, Jennifer Hudson, Robbie Williams and others performed a slew of anthems, Post Malone brought an old hit and a new tune and Tom Cruise gave an earnest hype-’em-up speech in the closing ceremony before the final.

British singer and former Take That member Williams performed his FIFA anthem ‘Desire’ wearing a blue bedazzled tracksuit.

He was joined by Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger and Italian singer Laura Pausini in blue spangled gowns.

Williams had released the song a year ago but dropped a new version with the two women earlier in the week.

The streamer IShowSpeed took the field first to perform his World Cup-themed song ‘Champions’ atop an image of the Empire State Building.

Next was Post Malone, who walked on to the New York/New Jersey Stadium pitch covered with a tarp showing the New York skyline.

He sung a brand new song ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ and was joined by Swae Lee to perform their 2018 duet ‘Sunflower’ on a hexagon-heavy stage in the center of the field.

Tom Cruise, who was also part of the Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony, followed them with a speech delivered in polo shirt and jeans.

“Today only two teams remain: España!” Cruise said, pausing for cheers before adding, “y Argentina!”

“Let us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together,” he said.

Most of the national anthems were piped in during the tournament, but they were performed live on Sunday.

EGOT winner and talk show host Jennifer Hudson sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. Wearing a white suit with red, white and blue trim, she stood in front of a bank of flags of the world, singing a cappella before being joined by a brass band.

Spanish Brass played Spain’s instrumental ‘La Marcha Real’ followed by Argentina’s ‘Himno Nacional Argentino’ sung by pop star Maria Becerra, clad in a flowing dress reminiscent of the Argentine flag.