Inclement weather has plagued the U.S. women since their arrival in Melbourne on Sept. 6. It was four days until they ventured outside their hotel (except for practice and a trip to see the U.S. men’s basketball team in action against Australia). The U.S. women conducted their Friday, Sept. 8, training at the Paisley Park Soccer Complex in the industrial western suburbs of Melbourne. They trained under gloomy skies and adjacent to a refinery, which featured a huge flame burning out of a one smokestack. On Saturday, Sept. 9, training was at Olympic Park in the shadows of the MCG. All 18 players took the short trip over to Rod Laver Arena, site of the Australia Open, to take in a rare basketball doubleheader featuring the U.S. men’s and women’s Dream Teams against their Australia counterparts. Following the women’s game, a landslide victory for the USA over the Opals (as the Aussies are called), the U.S. team visited the locker room to wish the basketball team well in their Olympic tournament. Meeting of ’96 gold medalists: The basketball players serenaded U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry with several choruses of “Blocked that Kick! Blocked That Kick!” in deference to her historic penalty kick save at the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final, while several players acknowledged Brandi Chastain by whipping off their USA Basketball jerseys and waving them over their heads. The U.S. soccer players have several ties to the men’s Dream Team as Chastain did a commercial with Kevin Garnett (What’s up with the shirt?) and also is friends with San Francisco Bay Area legend Jason Kidd. Midfielder Sara Whalen went to the University of Connecticut with the Milwaukee Bucks star Ray Allen. Melbourne’s Olympic village: The U.S. arrived in Australia Sept. 6 and is staying at a hotel in Melbourne that is serving as home all of the soccer teams playing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Also staying there are the Australian, Chilean, Italian and Moroccan men’s teams, as well as the Brazilian and Swedish women’s team. Sweden is coming off a surprise exhibition win over Norway, 2-1, on the Australian Gold Coast several days ago. It was the Swedes’ first win over Norway in five years. The Australian Olyroos, who will play one of the biggest matches in their history against Italy on Sept. 13 in front of 93,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, feature Leeds United star Mark Viduka. The legendary G: On Tuesday, Sept. 12, the U.S. players will get their first look at the inside of the famed Melbourne Cricket Ground — the equivalent of the Yankee Stadium of Australia — and the largest stadium in Australia until the Olympic Stadium was built for the 2000 Games, when they conduct a short 45-minute practice session on the game pitch. The U.S. will play all three first round games at “The G,” which features a massive grass surface that usually is used for Australia Rules Football and cricket. The capacity will be about 90,000 for Olympic soccer and a sell-out crowd is expected for the opening doubleheader on Sept. 13, which will feature the Sweden vs. Brazil women’s game followed by an Opening Ceremonies and then the Australia vs. Italy match. Members of the U.S. team will attend the matches. For the women, Average-sized crowds of 15-20,000 are expected for the first and third opening-round women’s matches against Norway (Sept. 14) and Nigeria (Sept. 20) respectively, while a large crowd that may reach 50,000 (equal to sales so far for the men’s semifinal at the MCG) is expected for the USA-China clash on Sept. 17, a rematch of the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final. In the parade: The U.S. women will fly from Melbourne to Sydney on the morning of Sept. 15, after facing Norway the night before, to march in the Opening Ceremonies for the 2000 Olympics Games. The team may train in the morning before leaving for Sydney and will return to Melbourne the next morning, possibly training in the afternoon, then faces China on Sept. 17 at the MCG.