Lausanne, Switzerland, June 8, 2017 - Rio 2016 silver medallists Italy and bronze medallists USA clash Friday in Pau in what is the 26th encounter between the two sides in FIVB World League history - with Italy enjoying a slight edge of 13-12.
Head-to-Head• Italy and United States have met each other 25 times in the World league. Italy just have the upper hand: 13 wins to 12.
• United States' 12 wins against Italy are third-most for the team against a specific opponent. They have only won more World League matches against Japan (16) and Russia (14).
• Italy won nine of their first 10 World League matches against United States, but managed to win only four of their following 15 meetings.
• Last season the teams met twice in the group stages. United States beat Italy 3-0 on 26 June, while Italy won 3-1 on 14 July.
Italy• Italy started their 2017 World League campaign with a 3-0 win over Iran, but then lost 3-1 to Poland and Brazil.
• They can now lose three successive World League matches for the first time since a run of four in 2015 (two versus Brazil and two versus Serbia).
• The last time Italy lost three of their first four matches of a World League season was 2009, when they started with a win over China but subsequently lost to China and twice versus their forthcoming opponents United States.
• After the first weekend, Simone Giannelli was the best setter in Group 1 with an average of 6.91 per set.
United States• United States have lost their last five World League matches. They can suffer six successive defeats for the first time since their record losing streak of 13 from 1993-1994.
• Their last nine losses in the World League were no straight set defeats. The last time a team beat United States 3-0 was Iran on 21 June 2015.
• United States' last win in the World league was the 3-0 against Russia on 3 July 2016.
• United States (148) are two shy of claiming their 150th win in the World League (276 matches).