Have you read "Football against the enemy" by Simon Kuiper? There's a bit in there where he describes a match between Botswana and Niger, and just from looking at them play one could tell which used to be a British colony and which used to be a French colony. The Botswanans were very physical, but tended to hoof the ball forward. The Nigeriens were skilful and quick, but tended to get shoved off the ball and go to ground easily. There was also a description of the 1992 Euros, and how the Dutch were absolutely shattered, not because they went out, but because they went out to Germany. Things looked up in the final though, as the Germans were beaten by Denmark, another of the countries they occupied in WW2.

Brings to mind a comment made by Jorge Valdano, who said the highlight of the 1986 world cup wasn't their winning the cup, but beating England in the quarters. Another historical note might be the notorious underperformance of the England cricket team at Lord's, where just about every visiting team would be perked up by the prospect of humiliating their former overlords at their own headquarters.