FRIDAY'S U.S. NATIONAL TEAM roster announcement arrived with a caveat in place: Jurgen Klinsmann explained that he assembled his 28-man January camp roster with an eye toward the 2016 Olympics.

Fair enough.

But that won't stop American Soccer Now from focusing a critical eye on the many intriguing—and baffling—decisions that informed this roster. Here are my five key takeaways.

1. Trapp and Gil lead the U-23 group

As Jurgen Klinsmann stated, the priority of this roster is building the foundation for the U.S. U-23 team to ensure the squad is prepared for Olympic qualifying—which will likely begin in 14 months. It is still impossible to get a majority of the team's core together since some players—like Emerson Hyndman and Paul Arriola—are with the U-20s and others—like John Brooks, DeAndre Yedlin, and Rubio Rubin—are with their European clubs.

Of this group, Wil Trapp and Luis Gil are the most likely players to be key contributors on the Olympic qualifying team as both are extremely experienced for their age group. While some U-23 players on the roster, like Christian Dean and Dennis Flores, are being called in for the experience and a chance for the staff to evaluate them, more will be expected of Trapp and Gil. Look for them to earn playing time in the friendlies.

2. Lifelines for Shea and Wood

It is hard to make an argument that Brek Shea and Bobby Wood deserve to be in this camp based on the merits of their play. Neither have the benefit of being eligible for the Olympic team (which is Klinsmann's justification for many of the other inexperienced players on the roster) and both essentially failed to stick at subpar second-division teams in Europe.

Perhaps Klinsmann sees Shea as a player who could use MLS to revive his career and be a useful asset as a wide player—a positional need on the U.S. national team. Maybe Klinsmann is using the call-up to help Wood latch onto a new club in MLS.

Either way, both should arrive in camp hungry to prove themselves and take advantage of an opportunity that they probably don’t deserve.

3. Debuts For Birnbaum, Zardes, Kitchen

The January camp is when most domestically based American players debut for the national team. Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler, Alejandro Bedoya, Brad Guzan, DeAndre Yedlin, and Graham Zusi are among those on the 2014 World Cup roster who made their first appearance with the national team in the friendlies that accompany the January/February camp.

It seems that every year, someone uses the camp to move into a larger role with the team. The three most likely candidates for this camp are D.C. United's Steve Birnbaum and Perry Kitchen and Los Angeles Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes.

Birnbaum, a central defender, and Kitchen, a central midfielder, were both instrumental in D.C. United’s turnaround from a dismal 2013, helping the team to a first-place finish in the Eastern Conference last season. Birnbaum, a rookie in 2014, is 23 years old and played with maturity and confidence despite his inexperience. Kitchen has blossomed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the league and D.C. United was nearly unbeatable when he was in the starting lineup.

Zardes had the benefit of playing with Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan and took advantage of the terrific opportunity to learn from the best the league has to offer. He has added many new dimensions to his game since his rookie season in 2013 and with Terrence Boyd injured and Jozy Altidore in club limbo, goal scorers in good situations are needed.

4. Two Intriguing dual nationals

There's always some intrigue when dual nationals have options with other countries but choose the United States. Usually this doesn’t happen in January camp but this year it did. Twice.

Major League Soccer's reigning rookie of the year, striker Tesho Akindele, at times showed the sort of skills that seemed likely to translate well in the international arena. Big, fast, strong, and smart, the Canada native acquired his U.S. citizenship late last year and immediately sparked conversations about his potential for the U.S. national team.

Julio Morales is unknown to most American fans but he had been the target of U.S. youth national team coaches for several years. He was unable to accept a call-up the U.S. U-20 team during the 2013 cycle because he was with Chivas de Guadalajara at the time and that club has long-standing policy of only employing players eligible and willing to play for Mexico. Morales accepted a call-up to be part of Mexico’s U-20 team in 2013 and even played in two games at the World Cup that year.

Now on-loan to a second division team, Morales accepted a call-up to play for the U.S. and will need to file his one-time switch to play in the friendlies. Morales spoke with American Soccer Now on Friday night and said he would be willing to file the paperwork.

While it is unclear how ready Morales and Akindele are to contribute to the team right now, U.S. Soccer staff acted promptly to ensure they were added to the pool and did not fall into the hands of another national team.

5. Notable omissions

As with every camp, there were several players who have a good reason to feel as if they should have been included.

Among the U-23 eligible central defenders, it's very hard to understand how Walker Zimmerman did not make the cut and Christian Dean did. Dean played just 122 minutes in 2014 while Zimmerman played nearly 900 for a better FC Dallas team. Zimmerman looks far more likely to be a bigger contributor in the years ahead and he can bring a physical edge to the game that is needed.

While neither are Olympic eligible, Harry Shipp and Kelyn Rowe are a pair of midfielders who are creative and skillful. Rowe, in particular, has shown steady improvement throughout his career and he is now part of a New England team that was runners-up in 2014 and should contend for a title again in 2015.

Matt Hedges is likely the biggest omission given his outstanding season in 2014 and his consistent progression over the course of his career. Not only is he the FC Dallas captain at just age 24, Hedges is one of the best central defenders in the league and the cornerstone of a very young, very promising Dallas team. With so much experimenting going on in the backline, including an attempt to convert lifelong midfielder Jermaine Jones to the position, it would have made a lot of sense to invited a true central defender like Hedges.

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Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.