Coach says alleged affair hurt '98 US soccer team

Breaking more than a decade of silence, former U.S. soccer coach Steve Sampson said Tuesday he dropped John Harkes from the national team roster two months before the 1998 World Cup because the American captain was having an affair with the wife of teammate Eric Wynalda.

Harkes has long denied having an affair with Amy Wynalda.

Wynalda, who played for the Fire in 2001, brought up the affair Monday night during a discussion on "Fox Football Fone-In" about a scandal in England over an alleged relationship between current English captain John Terry and the former partner of Wayne Bridge, his teammate on the national squad.

Sampson tells The Associated Press he's glad the story is coming out now because it might help people understand what led to the American team's last-place World Cup finish.

Photo: John Harkes (left) and Eric Wynalda (right) celebrate Wynalda's goal against Mexico in 1995. (AP)