One is a strict disciplinarian, brought up in San Canzian d'Isonzo, Gorizia. The other is a high living, high roller from Barking in London. Both were charged with bringing England the World Cup glory that has evaded its grasp since 1966. But one of them failed to grasp either the sacrifice or responsibility required to bring it about.

And today Fabio Capello and his captain John Terry parted ways in a short, swift showdown in which there was always only going to be one winner. It’s a bold move bound to divide opinion but it's one that could yet see England lift the trophy.

Make no mistake, Capello is no slippery Sven in thrall to the celebrity lifestyle enjoyed by his millionaire charges. He's a pragmatist who quickly realised the scandal surrounding his captan was only going to escalate and moved swiftly to ensure it did as little harm to his team’s chances of winning in South Africa as possible.

As one tabloid reporter admitted after the announcement, there are further revelations surrounding Terry’s affairs to come. More ominously, he declared that if up to now it had been “open season” on Terry, “as of tomorrow”, without the veneer of the England captaincy, it will be “open warfare.”

And as John Terry surveys the wreckage surrounding both his personal and professional life today, if he has any sense, he will surely realise that taking one for the team is all well and good, but giving one to the girlfriend of your team-mate is not only morally bankrupt (Terry’s alleged affair is the latest in a string of infidelities that have humiliated his wife Toni) but divisive as well.

Female columnists might point the finger at his bedhopping antics as proof of a football celebrity culture where women are treated as playthings to be bought. And they’d be right.

But for Capello, Wayne Bridge’s stated intention to retire from international duty, after discovering his friend and England team mate had allegedly been having an affair with his girlfriend, Vanessa Perroncell, got her pregant and paid for an abortion, will have proved equally persuasive.

Any team can handle a few bad apples. And in the super rich Premiership, you could easily point the finger at a whole orchardful. The bottom line is that the England captain isn’t expected to be one of them. Leaders lead by example. What sort of team would Capello have, come the summer, if they all started copping off with each other’s wives and girlfriends?

This is the nettle JT (as lickspittle lapdogs in the media always eager for a bone or two from the Chelsea and England man like to refer to him) singularly failed to grasp and which may still leave him a pariah among teammates loyal to Bridge.

Think Pete and Katie hurling insults at each other  but spread across the England XI That’s why Capello had to act. In doing so he may just be able to regroup his squad under new captain Rio Ferdinand and focus on the matter at hand - winning the World Cup.  

For many down South, England captain is second only to Prime Minister in terms of stature. And with a dour Scot, Gordon Brown in No.10, you could argue that up until this week Terry’s stock was the higher of the two.

Come South Africa, England expects… But what it didn’t expect was for John Terry to put the shag into WAG and show that football really is a game of two halves: half the time spent in your wife’s bed and the other half reportedly spent round at your mate’s bonking his bird when he’s not around.