San Francisco 49ers arrive in Melbourne for historic NFL game against the LA Rams

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers have arrived in Melbourne for their season-opening NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sept. 11.

It is expected to be the first of many regular-season NFL games in front of a growing Australian fan base.

The 49ers' 200-member traveling party touched down Friday morning after a 15-hour chartered Qantas flight and will spend a week acclimatizing before facing the Rams in front of an expected sold-out crowd at the MCG.

The Niners arrived with injured stars George Kittle and Nick Bosa, who both returned to practice and are hoping to play in the game. San Francisco will be without defensive end Sam Okuayinonu, who injured his foot in practice this week. Okuayinonu was placed on injured reserve and will miss at least four games. He had three sacks last season.

San Francisco signed defensive lineman Khalid Kareem as a replacement and will fly him to Australia. Kareem played four games last season with Atlanta with current Niners defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as his head coach. He has one sack and 41 tackles in 34 career games.

The Rams are scheduled to arrive Thursday, only about 24 hours before the game. The team's plan was to attempt to stay as close as possible to its west coast U.S. time zone to avoid jet lag.

The game is scheduled for a Friday morning start in Australia so it can be televised on Thursday evening during prime time in the eastern United States.

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