Turns out the solution to this problem is relatively trivial. Assuming you have two physical network adapters (NIC), make sure that one of them doesn't receive any IP (neither static nor via DHCP).
Once that is done in the VMware network editor create a new bridged network bound to this NIC and assign that network for use in VMs.
This way, because the host has received no IP for that NIC, most of the communication from the host to the network this NIC is physically connected to is effectively disabled.
Of course it depends at which OSI layer you want to prevent traffic. For me this was the solution. Works on Linux and Windows the same with VMware Workstation 8 and 9.
FOUND IT! It is not a pretty one, but is works.
In older versions of vmware workstation an player there was a tool for configuring network adapters. It is called vmnetcfg.exe. In the newest version of vmware workstation it is still in the install package, but not installed anymore. To get it to work in my vmware player id did this:
Get the Program
I downloaded the latest version of VMware Workstation (400+MB). When it completed I opened up CMD and extracted the installer:
> cd \path\to\installer\
> vmware-workstation-versionyaddayadda.exe \e extractedfolder
Then I went to the extracted folder and opened core.cab with winrar. Somewhere in there hides a vmnetcfg.exe. I extracted it and copied it to my VMware Player install folder.
Running te program
I started the program. I had a VMnet0, VMnet1 and VMnet8 listed. I selected VMnet0 in the list, then clicked bridged and selected my wireless network adapter instead of automatic.
Then I clicked "Add Network..." and called it VMnet2. I selected VMnet2 in the list, then clicked bridged and selected my wired network card instead of automatic.
Adding the card to the VM
First I added the second virtual network adapter in the VMware player's machine settings. The first one I kept on bridged, and configured the wireless adapter as the preferred bridge adapter (my wired adapter is not clickable anymore).
I needed to add the card to the VM by hand. This meant I had to open the VMX file in Notepad or in my case another preferred editor.
In the VMX file I added two lines (if they already exist, replace them.)
ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"
ethernet1.vnet = "vmnet2"
I saved the file and started vmware player. In my network settings I see this now:
Network Adapter: Bridged (Automatic)
Network Adapter: Custom (vmnet2)
I started the Virtual machine, and it worked!
Best Answer
You will need to create a second bridged virtual network adapter pointing to the second card and add it to the Virtual Machine. However you may need to give this a static IP if it is on Crossover since there will not be a DHCP server available from your current configuration.