Japan national football team
Japan is the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited in both 1999 and 2011. However, Japan declined their invitation on 16 May 2011, after events related to the difficulty of releasing some Japanese players from European teams to play as replacements. On 17 May 2011, CONMEBOL invited Costa Rica to replace Japan in the competition; the Costa Rican Football Federation accepted their invitation later that day.
Japan–South Korea football rivalry
The Japan and South Korea national football teams are sporting rivals who have played each other officially since 1954. They have had 79 matches so far. The match between the two countries is often shorten as "nikkansen" (Japanese: 日韓戦) or "haniljeon" (Korean: 한일전/韓日戰) in their respective languages. The most recent match ended up with Korea winning with a score of 4–1