In the history of the men's hockey World Cup, Pakistan are the most successful team with four titles to their name. Their first trophy came in the very first edition of the competition, which was hosted by Spain. But the side, who were dominating the hockey stratosphere had to wait till 1978 to win their next trophy.
But not a lot of people know that the Pakistan side that won that edition of the World Cup, actually helped hosts Argentina win the 1978 World Cup as well!
The orchestrator for Argentina then was their head coach Cesar Luis Menotti. The former head coach took notes from Pakistan’s legendary hockey player Abdul Waheed Khan who applied these tactics to help the Albiceleste to their first-ever World Cup triumph.
Back then, hockey was one of the most popular sports in the World, along with football. Pakistan were the masters of the game, winning the Olympic gold twice and the inaugural World Cup as well!
Then in 1978, the hockey and football World Cups were scheduled in Argentina. The hockey event was held in March and the football in June. Pakistan won the hockey World Cup, creating several records on the way, including the most number of goals in a single edition.
Pakistan were also the first team to win the World Cup without losing or drawing a single game while they also had the highest goal difference of 31, a record which stands till today.
While the World Cup was underway, Luis Menotti was coming to these games and watching the Pakistani side play with other members of the Argentine coaching staff. The staff were even seen at Pakistan's practice sessions. It is here that Menotti met with Abdul Waheed Khan to learn the same tactics as Argentina.
Waheed introduced Menotti to the concept of ‘Double Attack', where the team launched an attack from the right side to concentrate the opposition on that flank only to switch the attack from the left side. He was told to utilise his wingers and defeat the opponent’s attack from the centre.
Luis Menotti also watched many training sessions of the Pakistani team alongside Waheed Khan. Here, Khan would demonstrate this strategy to Menotti and explain its workings to him. Menotti used these points on his pad for future reference.
Two months later, Argentina won their first-ever Football World Cup led by Daniel Passarella. They lost just one match in the entire competition (against Italy), and scored in all but one match in the whole tournament. Ironically, it was an Argentine forward who won the Golden Boot, with Mario Kempes' six goals leading the list
Later, Waheed Khan received a telegram in Karachi, Pakistan from Cesar Luis Menotti thanking and acknowledging the fact that the Pakistan hockey tactics helped Argentina win the Worldcup.
