Former USA national team coach Steve Sampson has revealed how captain John Harkes was dropped from the team for having an affair with a teammates wife.

Harkes was flicked from Sampson's squad three months prior to the 1998 World Cup for having an affair with Eric Wynalda's wife Amy and Sampson thought it was the right time to bring it up as it raised plenty of similarities to the current situation involving England skipper John Terry and his former teammate Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend.

"There's a lot of similarities between what happened to us in '98 and what's happening now to England," Wynalda told the AP. "It's an unfortunate time for England, because I know how that can affect a team firsthand. Obviously, we all know how we did in the World Cup in '98."

Sampson said the affair had been kept quiet since it occurred but after some of the truths were revealed, he thought it was time to speak freely on the issue.

"But you know what? The other side of it, is now, I'm not the only one that is aware of the reality. So for 12 years now I have kept this quiet, never dreaming that either one of them would ever make it public. But it's on the record now, so I feel I have the freedom to speak," Sampson told Soccer America.

"I would have loved to have gone to that World Cup with John Harkes; he would have made a difference on the field. But after this series of acts, one being incredibly severe, I didn't believe he still had the right to be there. It's really unfortunate."