Even if – like me and apparently the organizers of the organizers of the 2016 Copa América – you aren’t familiar with the Uruguayan national anthem, you knew something went awry when the camera panned out on the members of La Celeste at Sunday’s match versus Mexico. Turns out, the Chilean anthem played instead of “Orientales, la Patria o la Tumba,” and most of the players naturally had confused looks on their face. That is, everyone but Diego Godín.
The central defenders’ lips moved as the song played on, which could only mean two possibilities: 1. He knew the Chilean national anthem and decided to honor the South American country. 2. He just sang the words to the Uruguayan despite the goof. According to him, he and his teammates didn’t realize what went down. “We couldn’t even hear it, but they told us that the Uruguayan national anthem was playing,” he said, according to El Comercio. “I just sang to the anthem to my own rhythm. I didn’t know they had made an error.”
Copa América issued an apology for the oversight, but they are hardly the first organization to screw up a national anthem. In 2015, FedEx Field played Isle of Man’s anthem for El Salvador. It also didn’t go over well.