People thought that Japan wouldn't be in the tournament because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. However, Japan said that they will still be in the tournament. They decided to leave the tournament on 4 April 2011, because the games would get in the way of some J. League Division 1 matches. Even though Japan then decided to play in the tournament, and send some European-based players instead, they still decided to leave on May 16 because some European clubs didn't want to send their players away. On the next day, CONMEBOL sent a request to the North American team of Costa Rica, and Costa Rica then accepted the invite.