Sixteen members of last year’s US World Cup squad were among 24 players named by coach Bob Bradley ahead of the Americans’ upcoming friendlies with Argentina and Paraguay.

The squad will gather on Sunday in Cary, North Carolina, before playing host to Argentina on March 26 at East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Paraguay three days later at Nashville, Tennessee.

Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, a New Jersey native, is among six players who will travel from England, including midfielders Clint Dempsey of Fulham, Stuart Holden of Bolton, Aston Villa’s Michael Bradley and Blackburn’s Jermaine Jones.

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu of Rangers and defender Oguchi Onyewu of FC Twente are also among those gathering for the US side.

“This is an important opportunity to get our core group together along with some relatively newer faces,” Bradley said.

“We have not had these players together for quite some time so this is a great chance to get in a solid week of training and then face two quality opponents in Argentina and Paraguay.”

Argentina, 6-2 with one drawn against the Americans, will field a line-up that includes two-time reigning FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and stars Javier Zanetti, Javier Mascherano and Esteban Cambiasso.

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