Euro 88
That summer, Sansom was Robson's first choice left back for the European Championships, but England were a disaster, losing all three of their group games, starting with a humiliating 1-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland in their first ever finals match, having qualified under the management of Englishman and 1966 World Cup winner Jack Charlton.
Sansom made a horrible error for the only goal of the game, toeing an attempted clearance high into the air and putting pressure on his fellow defenders, from which John Aldridge won a header for Ray Houghton to nod the ball past Peter Shilton. Sansom played in the other two group fixtures but after the tournament Stuart Pearce replaced him as England's first-choice left back. After nine years and 86 caps (plus one goal - scored in a World Cup qualifier against Finland in 1984) Sansom's international career was at an end, months before his 30th birthday, despite being briefly recalled as a back-up in 1989 when Pearce was injured, though he did not play.
To this day, Sansom is England's second-most capped full back after Ashley Cole (replacement Pearce came close, ending his international career in 1999 with 78 caps) and only ten players - Peter Shilton, David Beckham, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright, Ashley Cole, Bryan Robson, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard - have appeared more times for England than Sansom. Jointly with Shilton, he holds the record for the most England caps in the 1980s, with 84.
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