Chile’s national anthem played instead of Uruguay’s at Copa America

Copa America means that a few teams have the opportunity to showcase their skills on a grand stage. In this case, Uruguay and Mexico had their opportunity in Arizona.

And while that itself is a tremendous opportunity, it is also a chance to represent your country, which is why national anthems prior to the start of a game are so important. And typically, the ritual goes as planned as every player rises and stoically pays respect to the anthems.

That didn’t go according to plan on Sunday. While Uruguay was expecting their national anthem to be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium, they heard an unfamiliar tune blare through the loudspeakers. Their jingoism slowly transformed into confusion as the Uruguayan players awkwardly stood there. The stadium had accidentally played Chile’s national anthem.

This isn’t the first time a national team has unfortunately experienced this. This happened to El Salvador in FedEx Field a year ago.

Update: Copa American Centenario quickly issued a statement apologizing for the incident.