If there’s one place in the United States that would know the Salvadoran national anthem, you’d think it would be Washington, DC. Not only is it the nation’s capital and diplomatic hub, but it also has a large Salvadoran community. But when El Salvador and Argentina lined up for the anthems for a friendly at FedEx Field in front of nearly 59,000 people, the anthem that was supposed to be El Salvador’s definitely was not.
One by one, the players slowly dropped their hands from over their hearts as they realized the mistake and the large number of Salvadoran supporters in the crowd loudly booed as the incorrect song played to its conclusion. For the sake of comparison, here’s El Salvador’s real anthem:
This isn’t the first dumb mistake FedEx Field has made while hosting a friendly, though. Before Man United’s match against Inter last summer, they announced that the English club play their home matches at “Old Traddord” rather than Old Trafford.
Oops! FedEx Field welcomes #MUFC: pic.twitter.com/0GGDxYGqsB
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) July 29, 2014
Sadly, things did not get much better for El Salvador fans after the anthem mix-up.
Argentina defeats El Salvador, 2-0, in bitter cold at FedEx Field. Messi doesn’t play. Fans started leaving in 80th minute — Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) March 28, 2015
Video via Deadspin
You didn’t get the best part, it was the Kazakhstan national anthem.
ooh upon further investigation that was falsely reported and it gets even better: it’s the Isle of Man anthem.