Based in the coastal town of Porta Belo for the last two weeks, Qatar have been in intense training for their debut in the world's oldest football tournament.

Qatar face Paraguay at the Maracana Stadium followed by Colombia on Thursday and gianst Argentina three days later. Argentina suffered a shock 2-0 loss to Colombia in their opening tie on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Spanish giants Real announced the 18-year-old was joining the record 13-time European champions from FC Tokyo, to play for their B team next season.

"Being called the Japanese Messi is an honour and makes me proud, but I'm still not at his level and I prefer to concentrate on my abilities and strengths," said Kubo from Japan's Copa America base in Sao Paulo.

"I'm really looking forward to playing in the Copa America, it's one of the highest level tournaments in the world," the head coach told reporters in Sao Paulo.

"How can we show our strength and which way we play, that's what we want to find out in this tournament," the head coach of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 runners-up added.

"We have decided to invite ... to participate in our competitions the current Asian confederation champions and the previous ones," said Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American football's governing body.

The announcement came the day before the 2019 competition kicks off in Sao Paulo with hosts Brazil taking on Bolivia.

Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts, are participating in the Copa America as guests for the first time this year and line up in Group B alongside 14-time former winners Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay.

Richarlison opened the scoring in the 17th minute but Brazil suffered a blow just after as talisman Neymar departed with pain in his right ankle.

Gabriel Jesus added a second goal in the 23rd minute and despite AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar's best efforts, the West Asians couldn't find a way past the Brazil defence.

Following the approval of a revamped FIFA Club World Cup with 24 teams, the pilot edition of which will be played in 2021, the FIFA Council decided to award Qatar the right to host the next two editions of the tournament in its existing format in 2019 and 2020.

However, Spanish coach Felix Sanchez is not so easily pigeon-holed, having followed a somewhat different path. He first came to Qatar in 2006 to work as a trainer at Aspire Academy, with the task of identifying and developing young talent.