Two Degrees of Separation

One of the customs at meals with the national team is that players don't always sit with the same people every day. We just happened to glance around the lunch room today and observe the following eight people at one table: Charlie Davies, Eddie Gaven, Jason Hernandez, Stuart Holden, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, Chris Wingert and Marvell Wynne. Some connections are obvious, others a little more subtle. There were five Olympians from 2008 - Davies, Holden, Kljestan, Rogers and Wynne. Eddie Gaven and Chris Wingert were teammates on the U-23 team that attempted to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games. In fact, in February of 2004, at 17 years and 89 days, Gaven became the youngest player ever to appear on a U.S. Olympic Qualifying squad, passing fellow N.J. native Claudio Reyna. The last player in the mix is Jason Hernandez, who despite never having been a part of a U.S. National Team has a couple connections to his lunchmates. In fact, let's leave that part of it for you to figure out ...