By my calculations, this is a Copa America Year. :cool: Anybody heard anything on that, like where and when and who and how?

Sadly not...

according to this link, http://www.rdasilva.demon.co.uk/major.html#copa_america

the Copa America 2003 would take place in Peru in... 2004 !!

Japan played in the copa america????

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/esporte/2001-copa_america-ranking.shtml

Yes, Japan and others countries out of South America (México, Honduras, Costa Rica, USA) have already been invited....

Rankings 1916-2001

Países Títulos Vices Terceiros Quartos
Argentina 14 11 3 2
Uruguai 14 6 6 6
Brasil 6 11 7 3
Paraguai 2 5 6 7
Peru 2 - 6 5
Colômbia 1 1 3 1
Bolívia 1 1 - 2
Chile - 3 6 10
Equador - - - 2
México - 2 2 -
Honduras - - 1 -
Estados Unidos - - - 1
Venezuela - - - -
Costa Rica - - - -
Japão - - - -


Países Part. Tit. J V E D GP GC Pts %
Argentina 36 14 161 102 30 29 390 154 336 69,56
Uruguai 38 14 172 98 26 48 364 189 320 62,01
Brasil 30 6 155 88 27 40 359 179 291 62,58
Paraguai 30 2 145 57 29 59 228 257 200 45,97
Chile 33 0 154 53 24 77 241 275 183 39,61
Peru 26 2 124 44 28 52 181 206 160 43,01
Colômbia 16 1 90 32 19 39 110 159 115 42,59
Bolívia 21 1 96 19 20 57 90 248 77 26,73
Equador 22 0 102 14 19 69 108 280 61 19,93
México 5 0 28 11 8 9 37 32 41 48,80
Venezuela 12 0 42 1 6 35 27 144 9 7,14
Honduras 1 0 6 3 1 2 7 5 10 55,55
Costa Rica 2 0 7 2 2 3 9 13 8 29,62
EUA 2 0 9 2 2 5 9 13 8 29,62
Japão 1 0 3 0 1 2 3 8 1 11,11
Part.: participações; Tit.: títulos; J: jogos; V: vitórias; E: empates;
D: derrotas; GP: gols pró; GC: gols contra; Pts: pontos.

A few years ago there was some talk about a possible spanish and portuguese participation. I don't agree with these outside invitations. What sense would it make if say Japan won the Copa America?

I know, I saw it on that page too, I just think it's very strange. We don't allow Brazil in the European Championship either, do we?

Its especially strange as surely Japan are in the Asian cup so its not as if they need to join anymore competitions...

exactly!