South Korean boy band BTS, U.S. pop culture icon Madonna and Latin music superstar Shakira will be performing at halftime during the World Cup final July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., FIFA announced Thursday morning.
The performance will support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is looking to raise $100 million to assist children in accessing education and soccer.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino wrote on Instagram that the show “will be a truly special moment, bringing together music, football and a shared commitment to improving the lives of children around the world.”
“It’s a chance to show how amazing all different kinds of humans are,” Martin explains to Elmo in the video.
The three acts will bring a variety of cultures, musical styles and generations of fans to the Super Bowl-style concert, which will be the first of its kind for a World Cup final.
Madonna headlined the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show in 2012, and Shakira teamed with Jennifer Lopez to co-headline the Super Bowl LIV halftime show in 2020. Also, Coldplay headlined the Super Bowl 50 halftime show in 2016.
No duration time has been announced for the World Cup show, although soccer halftimes are not supposed to last more than 15 minutes. Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at Super Bowl LX in February lasted 13 minutes.
Among the three of them, Madonna, Shakira and BTS have compiled 20 No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, 10 Grammys and 37 MTV Video Music Awards. Shakira is scheduled to release “Dai Dai” with Nigerian singer Burna Boy as the official song of the 2026 World Cup this month.
But if his hamstring allowed their offensive engine to drive, the offense might not be humming. But the Lakers could probably keep it running.
They might not be keeping pace, but with the league’s leading scorer contributing, the gap wouldn’t be a year wide by every game’s end.
The Lakers really miss Doncic. Duh.
But it’s not only because, without him, they’re stuck reliving a recurring nightmare; in all three games, the Lakers have played Oklahoma City tough in the first half, including taking the lead into halftime in Games 2 and 3, only for it to be yanked away.
It’s also because they’re also losing data points on the scoreboard going into a pivotal offseason.
This whole Western Conference semifinal series against these defending champions has been a lose-lose proposition for the Lakers, who are now down 3-0 and staring into the elimination abyss in Game 4 on Monday.
But throw in the 33.5 points per game Doncic averaged this season, and the Lakers don’t get outscored by a combined 54 points after halftime.
Calculate for Doncic’s career 30.9 points per playoff game, and let’s assume their high-water mark would surely eclipse Saturday’s tally in their 131-108 Game 3 loss at Crypto.com Arena.
For whatever that’s worth.
Which is little compared to what else the Lakers miss with Doncic on the bench, nursing the Grade 2 hamstring strain he suffered on April 2 in Oklahoma City.
Lakers forward LeBron James, sliding backward across the baseline, looks for a foul call on a missed layup during Game 3 against the Thunder.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
For the Lakers, this end-of-the-road series is most valuable as an evaluation period for next season. It’s a barometer reading: You are here. The Thunder are there.
The goal now is to build a team around Doncic that could conceivably keep pace with Oklahoma City, and so they’re evaluating who will help do that if they come along for the ride next year.
But the Lakers are doing these playoff measurements without Doncic on the court. They’re test-driving the wrong car toward vacation.
Doncic can expect a postcard in the mail: Wish you were there.
So does he, of course.
“It’s very frustrating,” Doncic said between Games 1 and 2, standing with his hands in his pockets, pained to report that he wasn’t close to returning, five weeks into his eight-week return-to-work timeline.
“I don’t think people understand how frustrating it is. All I wanna do is play basketball, especially this time. It’s the best time to play basketball. It’s very frustrating seeing what my team is doing. I’m very proud of them. It’s been very tough, to, just to sit and watch them play.”
He got to see the Lakers upset the Houston Rockets in a six-game, first-round series without him and, for four games, Austin Reaves — who is averaging 18.7 points and shooting 40% from the floor and 25% from three-point range this series, having become a higher priority of the Thunder’s physical defense without having to deal with Doncic.
On Saturday, Doncic had to watch another lead — and with it, another opportunity to steal a game — disappear as if by a cruel magic trick. As time wore down, Doncic sat on the bench next to Reaves, staring blankly, hands folded in his lap, like so many Lakers fans at the arena.
The Lakers’ latest deflating loss could have used Doncic’s energy,his showmanship, his fire. He’s among the league-leaders in that, too.
“Look, yeah, when you have the league’s leading scorer out there – if he was – it definitely changes the dynamic of a team,” said guard Luke Kennard, who scored 13 of his series-high 18 points in the first half Saturday.
“Obviously, we miss him. And we know he’s working his butt off right now [to return to play] … but yeah, I mean, he would definitely change it for us. But right now, he’s not.”
Kennard is right, of course. Things would be different if Doncic was out there dealing.
Not that different.
But the Lakers at least wouldn’t be running out of gas so far from getting home every game, and they’d also have a better idea of how much farther they have to go.
But the Lakers are facing the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals and it is a chore that remains too heavy for Los Angeles.
Even with Reaves recovering to score 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting and handing out six assists and James collecting 23 points and six assists, the Lakers still lost Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, 125-107, Thursday night at Paycom Center.
The Lakers trail the series 2-0, with Game 3 back in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.
The odds have now increased against the Lakers winning this series. In NBA history, only 34 teams have recovered from a 2-0 hole to win a best-of-seven series, while 431 teams have gone on to win the series.
The Lakers even did a very good job again on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, throwing double teams at him to hold the All-Star guard to 22 points.
Lakers forward LeBron James. left, tries to drive past Thunder guard Luguentz Dort during the first half of Game 2 on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
(Nate Billings / Associated Press)
Chet Holmgren had another strong game with 22 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks and Ajay Mitchell had 20 points for the Thunder.
The Lakers, who had a one-point lead at halftime, went down 13 points at the end of the third quarter, but a James three-pointer pulled them to within 95-89, forcing the Thunder to call a timeout with 8:57 left.
The Lakers even got to within five points in the fourth quarter, but a 10-2 run by the Thunder put L.A. in a 13-point hole with 5:53 left, this time forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call a timeout so his players could collect themselves.
The Lakers could not.
A big play was when Reaves took a charge against Gilgeous-Alexander with 10:34 left in the third quarter, which was his fourth foul. Gilgeous-Alexander was called for a flagrant foul on the play and Alex Caruso was called for a technical foul.
Reaves shot three free throws, making them all for a 66-61 Lakers lead.
Gilgeous-Alexander then took a seat on the bench.
Yet the Lakers were unable to maintain their quality of play against a Thunder team that just kept charging ahead even with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench.
The Thunder finished the third on an 18-8 run to open a 93-80 lead.
One of the many keys for the Lakers was getting a productive Reaves. It was just his fourth game back after being out a month because of a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, and it showed. Reaves missed 13 of his 16 shots in Game 1 and all five of his three-pointers, and scored just eight points.
Reaves didn’t make any excuses for his poor play.
“He’s got a great sense of self-accountability to where, you know, he’s his own worst critic and he’s going to hold himself to a standard of how he wants to play,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Had a great conversation with him yesterday and today. He’ll be good to go.”
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura, center, pulls up for a shot over Thunder center Chet Holmgren, left, during the first half of Game 2 on Thurday night.
(Nate Billings / Associated Press)
Reaves scored 13 points in the first half while distributing the ball.
He missed his first two shots, but finished the first half five-for-nine shooting.
Along with James scoring 10 points and handing out five assists, Rui Hachimura scoring 11 and Marcus Smart adding eight while doing his part to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander, the Lakers opened a 58-57 lead at the half.
The Lakers sent defenders at Gilgeous-Alexander often, double-teaming the league most valuable player and forcing the other Thunder players to shoot the basketball in the first half.
Gilgeous-Alexander only took nine shots in the first half and made four.
The Thunder shot just 25% from three-point range in the first 24 minutes.
Note: Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt was downgraded out for Game 2 because of a dislocated right pinky finger.
