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Has Canada ever won a major international tournament?

Thrice, actually. The first time was at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games, in St. Louis. Canada sent Galt FC as their representative team and they defeated the only two other teams entered without being scored on. The second instance was more challenging as Canada competed in a field of nine national teams from the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football to win the 1985 CONCACAF Championship. Then in 2000 they emerged victorious from a field of eight teams to take the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Animalistic Player Nicknames

• Lionel Andrés Messi — Atomic Flea

• Iker Casillas — El Gato (The Cat)

• Claudio Lopez — El Piojo (The Louse)

• Gennaro Gattuso — The Pit Bull

• Eusebio — The Black Panther

• Kevin Keegan — Mighty Mouse

• Jack Charlton — The Giraffe

• Marco Van Basten — The Swan of Utrecht

• Arthur Friedenreich — The Tiger

Who was the “Little Bird”?

When he was an infant, Brazilian player Manuel Francisco dos Santos suffered from severe physical disabilities: his spine was deformed, his right leg bent inwards, and his left leg was 2.4 inches (six centimetres) shorter and curved outwards. An operation that enabled him to walk left him with a distorted leg. He nonetheless grew up to become a speedy winger with the nickname Garrincha, which means “little bird.” He won the World Cup in 1958 and 1962. He died of alcohol poisoning in 1983 at the age of 49.