17 November 1904 - Canada Takes The Gold. Kind Of.

On 17 November 1904, Canada won the Olympic gold medal in football. Except there wasn't really a gold medal. And it wasn't really Canada.

The 1904 Olympiad in Saint Louis, Missouri--held to coincide with the St. Louis World's Fair--was the second one to include football, but even then, it wasn't officially a medal sport. And the competing teams weren't there as national teams, but were instead amateur club sides. Only three teams participated--Christian Brothers College and St. Rose Parish, both from local St. Louis amateur leagues, and Galt FC, from the Western Football Association of Ontario. They played a round-robin, with the winner of the tournament being the team with the best record.

Galt were an experienced side, having been founded in either 1881 or 1882 (the records aren't precise). They were also three-time winners of the Ontario Cup from 1901 to 1903. Their quality was too great for the American sides; in the first match, on 16 November, Galt rolled over Christian Brothers, 7-0, with a hat-trick from Alexander Hall, a brace from Gordon McDonald, and a goal each from Frederick Steep and Thomas Taylor. St. Rose fared slightly better, losing 4-0 in the second match on 17 November (Taylor scored twice, while the other two scores came from Albert Hendersen and William Twaits).

That was enough to declare Galt the champions, even though Christian Brothers and St. Rose had yet to play against each other (which they did three times, after two scoreless draws). The St. Louis World's Fair Department of Physical Culture awarded gold medals--but not official Olympic gold medals--to the Galt players.

The International Olympic Committee later upgraded the 1904 tournament to official status and retroactively awarded the gold medal to Canada.

16 November 2005 - That's What He Gets For Trying The Stutter-Step

On 16 November 2005, Australia advanced to the World Cup with a playoff win over Uruguay in a penalty shootout.

FIFA required the two-legged playoff to give a World Cup spot to the winner of the Oceania qualification tournament, Australia, or the fifth-place team from South America, Uruguay. The teams met in Montevideo on 12 November for the first leg, which the hosts won 1-0 with a 37th-minute goal from left back Darío Rodríguez. The rematch in Sydney four days later was oddly similar, as Socceroo midfielder Mark Bresciano found the back of the net in the 35th minute. It was the only goal of the match through regulation and extra time, so the 1-1 aggregate score set up the penalty shootout.

Australia were up 1-0 when Rodríguez attempted Uruguay's first kick. He tried a stutter-step approach to draw Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer off his line, but the keeper held firm, then guessed correctly and dove to his left to block the shot.

After two more shots each, Australia were leading 3-2, but captain Mark Viduka sent his attempt wide. Striker Marcelo Zalayeta then had a chance to draw Uruguay level, but again Schwarzer guessed correctly and palmed the ball away.

Striker John Aloisi then stepped up to the spot, knowing that a successful shot would send Australia to Germany. Uruguay keeper Fabián Carini dove to the correct side, but could not get a hand on the ball, as Aloisi buried it in the top corner.

It was Australia's second trip to the World Cup, and their first since 1974, but they made it count by advancing to the Round of 16 before their 1-0 elimination at the hands of eventual champions Italy.

15 November 1913 - Chelsea Gets Some International Flavor

On 15 November 1913, Denmark's Nils Middelboe became the first non-British player to make an appearance for Chelsea.

It wasn't the first "first" for Middelboe, who scored Denmark's first-ever goal in the opening match of the 1908 Summer Olympics. He helped Denmark to the silver medal that year, then again in 1912. By the latter, he had become the captain of the national team.

In 1913, he moved to Chelsea from Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, where he had spent the previous ten years. Reportedly, he originally intended to sign with Newcastle, but switched to Chelsea at the last minute. Upon arriving at Stamford Bridge, he received the captain's armband and led the team to a 2-1 victory over Derby County in his first match.

While at Chelsea, he maintained his amateur status, keeping another job at a London bank. In order to accommodate his other career, Chelsea did not require him to travel for away matches.

Middelboe remained with Chelsea for ten years (but only five seasons, thanks to the suspension of league play for World War I) and made a total of 46 appearances in all competitions. Afterward, he played for a couple of amateur sides, then became a director of Clapham Orient in 1929. In 1936, he returned to Denmark as coach of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub.

14 November 2009 - Martins Flips The Switch For Nigeria

On 14 November 2009, an 81st-minute goal from Obafemi Martins sent Nigeria to the 2010 World Cup. 

It was the last day of qualification in Africa's Group B, which opened with Nigeria trailing Tunisia by two points for the group's sole spot in the tournament. Tunisia were away at Mozambique, while Nigeria traveled to Kenya.

The half-time scores favored Tunisia, who were holding Mozambique to a scoreless draw while Nigeria had fallen behind in their match, 1-0. Quick second-half goals from Martins (60') and his teammate Yakubu Ayegbeni (64'), put the Super Eagles in the driver's seat, but Kenyan striker Allan Wanga brought the hosts level in the 77th minute, which shifted the advantage back to Tunisia.

But Martins' second strike of the day again switched the positions at the top of the Group B table, a result secured with an 83rd-minute goal from Mozambique striker Dário Monteiro. With Nigeria's 2-3 victory and Tunisia's 1-0 loss, the Super Eagles finished one point ahead in the standings and advanced to the World Cup.

Unfortunately, their good fortune ended there and they were eliminated in the tournament's first round with losses to Argentina (1-0) and Greece (2-1) and a 2-2 draw with South Korea.

13 November 2010 - The Other Poppy Controversy

On 13 November 2010, Airdrie United printed a special prematch program in honor of Remembrance Day. But made a pretty embarrassing mistake.

The club sold the program before a Scottish Division Two match against Livingston. As a nod to match sponsors Network Rail, Airdrie selected a cover photo of soldiers on a train, accompanied by the words "Lest We Forget" and the logo of veterans' charity PoppyScotland, which included the legend "Supporting Our Heroes." 

Unfortunately for Airdrie, the soldiers in the photo weren't who the club thought they were. Instead, the picture showed a group of Nazi soldiers. After a supporter brought that fact to the club's attention, chairman Jim Ballantyne quickly apologized for the error. Club secretary Ann Marie Ballantyne added "It certainly was not deliberate. We were told the soldiers were Australian." She further explained that they had received the photo from PoppyScotland, but the charity denied the claim, calling the program gaffe "unfortunate."

It wasn't the day's only disappointment for Airdrie, as Network Rail--whose sponsorship prompted the use of the photo--withdrew prior to the match. And Airdrie lost, 0-1.

12 November 1944 - Gunnar Shoots. And Scores. Seven Times.

On 12 November 1944, striker Gunnar Nordahl matched a Swedish league record by scoring seven goals in one match. And nobody else has done it since.

From the beginning of his professional career, Nordahl was a prolific scorer, with 124 goals in 118 league appearances for with Hörnefors IF (1937-40) and Degerfors IF (1940-44). In 1944, he moved to IFK Norrköping where he proceeded to win four consecutive Allsvenskan titles. En route to the first one, he delivered his record-matching performance against Landskrona BoIS.

The day's first score fell to Eric Holmqvist, who put Norrköping up 1-0 in the 5th minute. Five minutes later, Nordahl started his run, scoring seven straight goals in the 10th, 21st, 24th, 27th, 41st, 46th, and 79th minutes. His brother Knut Nordahl added one in the 89th minute before Landskrona's Gunnar Anderberg took meager consolation with a goal in the 90th minute.

Nordahl's haul matched that of Arne Hjertsson, who had just set the mark in June of the previous year in a match for Malmö FF against Halmstads BK. Since Nordahl, however, nobody else has managed to repeat the feat.

Nordahl eventually moved to AC Milan in 1949 and scored 210 goals from the Rossoneri in 257 league appearances. He scored an additional 15 goals for Roma (1956-58) and is still Serie A's second-top goalscorer of all time, behind Silvio Piola. 

11 November 2007 - Zenit Live Up To Their Name

On 11 November 2007, Zenit St. Petersburg won their first Russian Premier League title with a win over Saturn Moscow Oblast on the last matchday of the season.

Founded in 1925, Zenit had won only one other league title in their history--the 1984 Soviet Top League. After the advent of the Russian Premier League in 1992, they were relegated after that first season, then returned to the top flight in 1996. A handful of top-10 finishes followed, as well as one season in which they finished third (2001) and one in second (2003).

The 2007 season was their first full one under new manager Dick Advocaat, who had taken over in July 2006. Despite losing both of their league meetings against Spartak Moscow, Zenit entered the last matchday two points clear of their rivals from the capital, knowing that a win would secure the title. But to get it, they needed an away victory over Saturn, with whom they had drawn 1-1 at home in the first week of the season.

Playing before a crowd of 16,500, Zenit looked to rely on their top goalscorers, forwards Andrey Arshavin and Pavel Pogrebnyak, with respective league totals that season of 10 and 11 goals, respectively. But they received a spark from a less likely source, as a 14th-minute shot from Zenit midfielder Radek Šírl deflected past Saturn goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky. It was the only goal of the match.

The win made Zenit the first team outside of Moscow to win the title since 1995. It also launched them into European competition that ended with them lifting both the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2008.