The Copa América is one of the most entertaining football competitions in the world. At the 1xBet sports betting site you can wager on all its matches. Because of the format of this competition, the organizers normally decide to invite a few teams that join all 10 squads from South America.
The guests are normally teams like Mexico, Costa Rica or the United States. However, even Japan has been invited on a couple of occasions. You can make sports betting on the 1xBet site on the Japanese national side too.
While the Asian team has never won the tournament, it has still posed a serious challenge for the teams that have faced it.
The first time
Japan traveled to Paraguay in 1999 in order to play the Copa América of that year. The Asian team was placed in Group B of the tournament. Use the 1xBet mobile app for betting in order to wager on the Copa América too. They had a tough group that was shared with the following teams:
- Paraguay;
- Peru;
- and Bolivia.
The Japanese team began with a 2-3 defeat against Peru. However, the home team of Paraguay later defeated them 4-0. Finally, they ended their participation in the tournament after a 1-1 draw against Bolivia. The 1xBet mobile app can be used for betting on all matches of the Japanese national side as well.
Canceled participations and a second attempt
The next attempt for the Japanese team came in 2011. Everything was ready for them to travel to Argentina for the Copa América of that year. Sadly, they were forced to cancel their participation after the devastating earthquake that struck Japan that same year. The so.1xbet.com/slots website has hundreds of games that you can try before the next edition of the Copa América.
Four years later, the Japanese were invited to participate one more time. However, finally they didn’t travel to the 2015 tournament that was going to be held in Chile due to scheduling conflicts.
Finally, the Japanese Football Association agreed to participate in the 2019 edition of the tournament held in Brazil. Needless to say, all matches from the Japanese national side can be wagered at the 1xBet website.
Japan had a good reason to accept that invitation. They were going to organize the 2020 Summer Olympics. As such, they sent an U-22 team to the 2019 Copa América with the purpose of preparing themselves for the Olympic football tournament.
The Japanese team caused a headache to its South American rivals. They began with a 0-4 defeat against Chile. However, the talented U-22 Japanese team got important draws against Uruguay and Ecuador. While they failed to go beyond the group stage of the tournament, they left an extremely good impression.
