Lausanne, Switzerland, June 8, 2017 - Rio 2016 Olympic champions Brazil historically have the upper hand over Canada when the two sides meet Friday in Varna, having beaten the North Americans in 14 of their 17 FIVB World League head-to-head encounters.
Head-to-Head• These teams will meet for the 18th time in the World League. Brazil won 14 of the previous 17 encounters.
• Brazil won 10 of their last 11 World League matches against Canada, seven of which straight sets. The only exception in that run is the five-set defeat on 19 May 2012.
• Canada have lost 14 World League matches against Brazil, at least five more than against any other country (9 against Netherlands).
• These teams most recently met in a competitive match on 9 August 2016, when Brazil beat Canada 3-1 at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Canada• Last Sunday Canada lost 3-1 against 2016 World League winners Serbia, after beating Belgium (3-2) and United States (3-2) on day 1 and 2 respectively.
• Canada could record back-to-back defeats in the World League for the first time since June 2015.
• Canada have won 12 of their last 14 World League matches, with the 3-1 loss against Serbia on 4 June and a five-set defeat against Finland on 3 July 2016 as the only exceptions.
• John Gordon Perrin scored a team-high 51 points in the opening weekend, 12 more than teammate Graham Vigrass.
Brazil• Brazil lost their opening match of the 2017 World League campaign 3-2 against Poland, the only defeat in their last 10 group stage matches.
• Last season's runners-up Brazil are one shy of their 100th defeat in the World League. They suffered their first loss in the competition against Italy (3-1) on 29 April 1990.
• Evandro Guerra scored 68 points in the opening weekend, at least eight more than any other player in Group 1. Bulgaria's Tsvetan Sokolov scored 60 points.
• Mauricio Borges Almeida Silva had the highest efficiency as receiver in Group 1 last weekend (64%).