Uruguay
Stadium played wrong national anthem for Uruguay before Copa America match
Uruguay

Stadium played wrong national anthem for Uruguay before Copa America match

Published Jun. 5, 2016 8:18 p.m. ET

One of the cooler traditions in international sports is the playing of the national anthems. The teams walk out on the pitch and line up, then their anthem is playing, letting them and all their fans sing it at the top of their lungs.

Uruguay didn't get that chance before their Copa America opener against Mexico. When it was time for their anthem to be played, the Chile national anthem came on.

As you can see, the Uruguay players were rightly upset.

This isn't the first time that organizers have played the wrong anthem before an international match, but it's still baffling that it happens. These matches have been scheduled for months and double-checking the track beforehand doesn't seem like it'd be too difficult. And yet here we are.

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After the snafu, organizers did issue an apology.

"This evening during the pre-match ceremony, due to human error, we inadvertantly played the incorrect national anthem. We sincerely apologize to the Uruguayan Federation, the Uruguay National Team, the people of Uruguay and to the fans for this mistake. We will work with all parties involved to ensure such an error does not occur again."

Of course, there's also the matter of the Mexico fans who booed the anthem. It's bad enough to boo another country's anthem - it's just childish and disrespectful - but they look especially foolish booing the wrong anthem. So they're jerks twice.

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