Japan's football legends returned to help. Korea's went on YouTube.

GUADALAJARA — One national team is being guided by the stars who once carried it. The other is being criticized by its former stars on TV and YouTube.

Japan's coaching staff at the 2026 FIFA World Cup features several of the country's most recognizable former players. Shunsuke Nakamura, a former Japanese national team player who also played for Celtic in Scotland, joined the coaching staff two months before the World Cup. Makoto Hasebe, a former midfielder, left his role as coach of Eintracht Frankfurt's Under-21 squad to join Japan's national team earlier this year.

Injured midfielder Takumi Minamino traveled with the Japanese team as a mentor. Former defender Maya Yoshida, who retired from the Japanese national football team last month, also accepted manager Hajime Moriyasu's request to serve in a support role.

The former stars have embraced supporting roles, rather than remaining in the spotlight, passing on their experience to the next generation.

"Some critics said manager Moriyasu was taking a trip down memory lane," Shin Mu-koeng, a Japan-based Korean football analyst, said. "But he brought in Nakamura, the free-kick specialist, Hasebe, Japan's captain at the 2018 World Cup, and Yoshida, Japan's captain at the 2022 World Cup.”

Shin compared the current setup to “Avengers: Endgame" (2019).

“It feels like seeing Captain America and Iron Man coming back to fight one last battle together,” he said.

For Japan's current players, working alongside the legends they once idolized is an opportunity few teams can match.

The Korean equivalent would be Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo and Ki Sung-yueng serving together on the national team's coaching staff.

The presence and symbolism of respected coaches are extremely important for players. In contrast, the Korean national team’s coaching staff under now-resigned manager Hong Myung-bo — Kim Jin-kyu, Kim Dong-jin and João Aroso of Portugal — lacks the same gravitas.

Park and Lee, key members of Korea’s 2002 World Cup semifinal run, were in Mexico for Korea’s World Cup campaign. But both were there as television commentators.

Notably, some of Korea’s football legends have delivered sharp criticism not from the pitch but from YouTube studios.

"Does it make any sense that a World Cup we've waited four years for ended in a failure because of a handful of people at the Korea Football Association, including Hong Myung-bo?” Lee Chun-soo, a former footballer who once played alongside Hong, said in a YouTube video. "They should all be prepared to step down."

Former midfielder Lee Eul-yong took to YouTube to offer tactical advice, even as his son, Lee Tae-seok, was still competing for Korea at the World Cup.

"[Son] Heung-min should be left where he is because he can go with a bang," said the father.

Former national team goalkeeper Kim Young-kwang appeared on another broadcast, repeatedly clapping as he chanted, "Hong Myung-bo out!"

In Japan, retired sports stars often remain in the administration or on the field to pass down their experience to younger generations. This culture is known as tsunagu, meaning “to connect” or “pass on.”

By contrast, many of Korea’s 2002 World Cup semifinal heroes have stayed away from coaching and football administration, citing instability in those fields.

Instead, they have settled into variety shows and YouTube channels, where sharp on-camera criticism brings in views.

What is missing is the willingness and responsibility to return to the pitch, to pass on their experience or to change the system. That is perhaps one of the reasons the gap between Korean and Japanese football has widened so much at this World Cup.

BY PARK LIN [[email protected]]