After 12 years, Steve Sampson has admitted that captain John Harkes was dropped from the 1998 World Cup squad three months before the kick-off for having an affair with teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife Amy.

The former U.S. coach thought the time was appropriate after Wynalda talked about the affair on the ‘Fox Football Fone-In’ on Fox Soccer Channel.

The topic of affairs and team chemistry came up with the news that John Terry had an affair with teammate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend at the time and the mother of his child.

"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 pointed out that he wished that Wynalda had not ‘said anything’ on the issue but went on to tell Soccer America; “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.”

Roy Wegerle informed Sampson of the affair and after confirming the story Sampson had a difficult decision to make and finally followed his principles and dismissed Harkes from the team citing ‘leadership issues’ to the press.

Harkes did not want to re-hash old memories saying, “I am not going to rehash the things that have happened in the past," Harkes said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "1998 was devastating to me and my family. It was hard enough not to play in the World Cup, but it was even difficult to go through that time period, the most difficult time period of my life."

Sampson was insistent that this was a private matter and did not even tell the team the true reason behind the dismissal seeing the affair as a personal issue.  He thought that Harkes had ‘crossed the line’ by having an affair with a wife of someone on the team saying the outcome would have been different if it was with someone from outside the team.

Although looking back on the event, Sampson wishes he had told the leadership of the team the true reason behind the dismissal.

"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.”

The U.S. went on to lose all three matches at the1998 World Cup and finish last among the 32 finalist.

The one regret Sampson has it that the incident and ensuing poor showing in France overshadowed the accomplishments of the team while he was manager.  The Red, White and Blue defeated Argentina and Mexico at the 1995 Copa America on the way to a 4th place finish and held Mexico to a 0-0 draw at Azteca Stadium, the only points the U.S. has ever taken from Azteca.