With no jumbotron, padded seats or luxury suites, it is one of those increasingly rare old-school stadiums that – absent of unnecessary comforts – keeps the focus on the game.
They even roared when the stadium announcer mistakenly introduced the absent Freddy Adu when he meant to say Maurice Edu.
While Yaya Touré will be absent for the opening leg at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night due to a muscle injury, Kompany stated he is "100%" fit following a knee problem.
That poor run of form resulted in the dismissal of Paul Ince last week and his son Tom, who appears set for a move to the Premier League, was absent from the Blackpool squad at the Madejski stadium.
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And in a peculiarly rambling, rain-soaked event that got bogged down in domestic politics and ended in a near empty stadium, at times it felt as if Mandela's soul was absent too.
Stadiums are empty, facilities are poor and money is largely absent.
On Sunday, thousands of people gathered in a stadium in the capital of Algiers to cheer for a once again absent Bouteflika on the last stop of his lacklustre campaign tour.
Jeff Wilpon said he is certain that absent the Sept. 11 attacks, Bloomberg would have proceeded with Giuliani's plan and stadium construction would have soon begun.
Football's World Cup, which starts this week, will come to a climax with a final in the refurbished Olympic stadium in Berlin next month.Fortunately, the political overtones that made the Berlin Olympics such a sinister event are completely absent.
David Beckham was conspicuously absent in the days before last year's M.L.S. championship game, which was played at his team's home stadium.
