Lausanne, Switzerland, June 18, 2017 - Canada face Italy Sunday in Antwerp for the fifth time in FIVB World League history and the first time since the North Americans beat the eventual silver medallists in pool play at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Head-to-Head• Canada and Italy have met four times in the World League.
• All four meetings came in 2000 and all four ended in a 3-1 win for Italy.
• Their most recent meeting at world level came at the 2016 Olympic Games when Canada won 3-1.
• In 1984, these teams played the bronze medal match for the Olympic Games, with Italy winning in straight sets.
Canada• Canada come off a straight set defeat against France, a match in which they scored only 52 points.
• For the first time in 34 matches, Canada failed to win a set in a World League match. The last time this happened to them was in June 2014, when they lost 3-0 against Finland.
• Canada’s 2017 World League record is now even: four wins and four defeats.
• Stephen Timothy Maar led his team in scoring on Saturday with 12 points, all spikes. John Gordon Perrin is still his team’s leading scorer in the tournament with 85 points.
Italy• On Saturday against Belgium, Italy suffered a sixth defeat in this season’s World League. They won two matches.
• Italy have always won at least four matches in a World League campaign. They have won two so far this campaign.
• Luca Vettori was the most prolific scorer in the match against Belgium with 22 points. Iacopo Botto (14) was Italy’s only other player in double figures.