‘Argentine football inspired by Pakistan’s 70s hockey team’
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César Luis Menotti is a former Argentine football manager, coach and player who is credited with winning the 1978 FIFA World Cup for the Argentina national team, but said that their victory was due to the playing skill of the Pakistan hockey team.
Recently, in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the Argentine team had to face a historic defeat against the Saudi Arabian team. While the team “came back” in the game, they defeated Mexico 2–0 in the next match.
In a sports program on a private news channel, sports analyst Rehanul Haq said that interestingly, former Argentine football coach Cesar Luis Menotti, also known as El Flaco, believed that the victory of the 1978 FIFA World Cup Credit goes to them. This is so for the Pakistani hockey team because he not only observed the technical skills of the Pakistani hockey team but also implemented this strategy in his football team.
Minuti’s philosophy was that the Pakistani hockey team was creating “overload” situations on the flanks. If they move to the right on one flank, they will form a triangle with the team center forward, full back and one to two mids. The strategy of the fielders and the Pakistan team was that when all the pressure was on one side, a runner would come from the other side, then the ball would hit the runner from the side of the triangle. Menoti was very impressed with this technique. He used this technique in a match and when they won the World Cup, he wrote a letter to Abdul Waheed Khan, the then manager of Pakistan’s hockey team, admitting that the success of his hockey team depended on . Aggressive attack techniques.
It should be noted that in 1978, Argentina was hosting two World Cup tournaments. The Hockey World Cup began in Buenos Aires in March 1978 and the Football World Cup in June 1978. Pakistan won the Hockey World Cup by defeating the Netherlands in the final.
During the Hockey World Cup, a formidable Pakistan team, managed by Abdul Waheed Khan and led by Islauddin, displayed a formidable attacking game.
César Luis Menotti, the Argentine football manager, was impressed by Pakistan’s excellent technical skills. In the middle of the Hockey World Cup, Argentina’s football team manager Menotti arrived to meet Pakistan’s manager Abdul Waheed Khan in a private plane on a day of rest. The Argentine coach has always favored a stylish, attacking game based on skill and technique.
