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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Stephen Killen

Why the England players wore nameless shirts in second half vs Switzerland

England played the second half of their international friendly against Switzerland without the names of the stars on the back of their shirts to raise awareness for dementia.

The Three Lions returned to the hallowed Wembley turf unchanged to play the final 45 of the first of their two matches this month. But unlike the first half, the likes of Harry Kane, Phil Foden and Luke Shaw all wore shirts without their world-renowned names.

Switzerland's visit to Wembley saw the match honour Alzheimer's Society in order to raise awareness for the condition. The gesture was to recognise the 900,000 people living with dementia in the United Kingdom.

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It was hoped that the motion would draw attention to the illness and put people themselves in the shows of people with dementia and also show the illness can make those suffering forget precious memories, even ones of their favourite players. The shirts will be auctioned to raise funds for Alzheimer's Society's work.

Manchester United full-back Shaw was on the scoresheet for England as he cancelled out Breel Embolo's header on the stroke of half-time as his left-footed strike arrowed past Jonas Omlin. It was a tentative first-half from Gareth Southgate's side after their preparations for the friendly were hampered after Manchester City defender, John Stones, was forced to withdraw through injury.

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