Lausanne, Switzerland, June 18, 2017 - The Netherlands host the Czech Republic Sunday in The Hague, having already secured their ticket to the Group 2 Final Four in Australia's Gold Coast after their win on Saturday over Slovakia to go 6-2.
Head-to-Head• Since the start of 2014, Netherlands have won seven of their last eight encounters with Czech Republic in the World League and 2015 European Championship.
• The Dutch have won six of their seven World League encounters, their only defeat in that span coming in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 23 June 2016.
• They also met last weekend, with visiting Netherlands cruising to a straight sets victory in Ceske Budejovice.
Netherlands• Netherlands have fared well in front of a home crowd in The Hague, beating both Korea (on Friday) and Slovakia (on Saturday) in straight sets.
• This earned them qualification for the Group 2 Final Round in Gold Coast next weekend.
• For the first time since June 2010, Netherlands have avoided dropping a set in back-to-back World League matches. Back then, they managed this in three straight matches.
• Netherlands have now won five straight World League matches for the first time since 2001.
Czech Republic• After their 3-0 defeat against Korea, Czech Republic’s record in the 2017 World League is four wins and four defeats.
• The last four matches involving Czech Republic ended in straight sets. Two of those ended in Czech wins, two in wins for the opposition.
• Last season, Czech Republic won five and lost four World League matches.