Berlin: A 10-minute closing ceremony before the final may prove to be quite a show stopper.
Shakira and 400 performers will rev up the pre-match festivities in a "Love Parade" style entry that organisers hope will showcase this German generation.
The Colombian songstress will work her way down the stone stairs from the Marathon entrance of Berlin's Olympic stadium with local musicians and dancers in a 10-minute performance.
Californian choreographer Doug Jack, who has worked on opening and closing ceremonies at the last five Olympics, said the programme aimed to bring the energy and enthusiasm from the Fan Mile - where hundreds of thousands have gathered to watch
World Cup matches on giant TV screens - into the stadium for the final.
The mixture of vibes from the Fan Mile and the Love Parade, the capital's Love Parade techno fest that drew 1.5 million to downtown Berlin at its peak in 1999, is something
Jack said he wants to "bring into the arena and let go before the match."
For Shakira, it's a stop between gigs in Spain and Croatia. Her single "Hips Don't Lie" is second in Billboard's Hot 100 behind "Promiscuous" by Canada's Nelly Furtado, whose
"Forca" was anthem of the 2004 European Championship.
The ceremony's creative director, Dieter Brell, said the World Cup had given Germany a chance to express a new image around the globe. The program was short, he added, because the focus of the people at the stadium was on the match.
"We want to show Germany as our generation sees it.
"We're trying to be modern with the image of Germany we're presenting. Our image has changed the last four weeks - we're a country that can dance and party and knows how to have fun."
The closing ceremony will be set on the area around the area where the Olympic flame burned during the 1936 Games, which is usually vacant during soccer matches.
Italian tenor Placido Domingo will sing at half-time in the final, "so there's a musical framework for what is happening on the pitch," Brell said.
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