| Slimebeast said: Great, detailed post! Shouldn't you be able to lose your position as a "big football nation" though? In that case Uruguay lost it years ago. |
Yes, you can lose this position, but Uruguay? No, not in my opinion. They won their last Copa in 2011, they made it to semi finals and place 3 in world cup 2010 and Diego Forlan was voted best player of that tournament.
Some might say Holland as they only won one international title so far (and 28 years ago), as their national team is not in good shape atm and their best club teams not competitive to make it far in CL or EL these days. But let's not forget their national team made it the world cup final in 2010 (by the way: in Germany we call the runner-up of a WC final respectfully "Vizeweltmeister" [lit: vice world champion]) and they made it to the semi finals and place 3 in WC 2014. So from 2010 to 2014 Holland was Vizeweltmeister, not too shabby.
If there's one country that can meanwhile be considered a "former big nation", it's England. (I think the last time they made it to semi finals in one of the big tournaments was Euro 1996 at home. Their only final ever was the one they won, world cup 1966, again: at home). That's just my opinion though as for some reason they are always named as one of the favorites for a tournament by public media and many people. You listed them as well as one of the possible favorites for WC 2018 a few posts back. 
