Manchester City's English defender Wayne Bridge takes a throw-in during the FA Cup fifth round football match between Manchester City and Stoke City at The City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, north-west England on February 13, 2010.ANDREW YATES
Today Wayne Bridge the Manchester City left back made the difficult but correct decision to eliminate himself from the England national squad.
Rather than put his England national career first, he clearly recognized that his animosity towards John Terry would have hurt team spirit and so he took the dignified approach.
In what may appear to be another set back for England manager Fabio Capello, it in many ways will prove to be a blessing in disguise.
Having to spend any amount of time worrying about team togetherness or team spirit is so counter productive to the main cause - winning a World Cup - it would have been a huge risk for Bridge to be included in the final World Cup squad.
Even though Capello had included him for the upcoming game versus Egypt, along with John Terry, it appeared more a political decision rather than one that made sense.
Capello will now be forced to review other options for the left back position which has been made vacant since first choice Ashley Cole's recent injury.
The irony is that he will likely find a better option than Wayne Bridge who has been off form over the past 12 months which clearly now, is understandable.
If John Terry still had any illusions of what it really means to be a teammate they have surely been readjusted today.