Take one for the team

This expression derives from baseball and dates from the latter half of the 20th century c. 1970, and means that a player takes a pitch on the body in order to move to first base i.e. the player is making a sacrifice on behalf of the team. The player has to be careful because the umpire can penalise the player if the umpire believes it is deliberate. The expression has moved on to other sports, like soccer, for example, where it means to commit a cynical foul and risk a yellow card in order to stop an opposing player from moving into a potential goal-scoring position. It is now frequently used outside of sporting contexts where it means to accept some chore or hardship for the sake of one’s colleagues or friends.