Lausanne, Switzerland, June 4, 2017 - Italy and Brazil clash in Pesaro Sunday in a rematch of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games final which Brazil won in straight sets.
Head-to-Head• Italy and Brazil will meet for the first time since August of last year, when these teams met in the final of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The home side delighted the crowd by beating Italy in straight sets for the gold medal.
• They also met in the group stage of the same Olympic Games. Italy won that match 3-1.
• In the World League, they have met 34 times with 18 victories for Italy and 16 wins for Brazil.
• Italy have only faced France more often in the World League (40), while Brazil only met with United States more often (39).
• Their only meeting in the World League last year came in the final phase of pool play. Brazil beat Italy 3-0 and both teams defeated USA to both reach the semifinal knockout stages.
• All of Brazil's last four World League victories over Italy came in straight sets, while Italy needed five sets to claim their two most recent wins over the Brazilians.
Italy• Italy have started their 2017 World League season with a win and a defeat, beating Iran 3-0 on Friday and losing 3-1 against Poland on Saturday.
• Italy have lost five of their last seven World League matches, including three of their last four.
• In each of their previous three World League weekends featuring matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Italy walked out with two wins and one defeat.
• The last time Italy lost two of their three opening fixtures of a World League campaign was in 2009, when both China and United States proved too strong.
• Filippo Lanza has scored a team high 30 points this World League season.
Brazil• Brazil avenged a 3-2 defeat against Poland with a 3-1 victory over Iran on Saturday.
• With that victory, Brazil avoided losing three straight in the competition for the first time since 2013-2014.
• Before losing the World League final last season and their opener this season, Brazil had won 12 of 13 in the competition.
• Brazil are one shy of 100 defeats in the World League. In comparison: they have won 335 matches.
• Brazil are hoping to win the World League for the first time since 2010.
• Evandro has already scored 50 points, more than any other player in the Brazilian squad.