Lausanne, Switzerlan, May 16, 2018 - Pool hosts Brazil are out to redeem themeselves Wednesday against Japan in the Sao Paulo suburb of Barueri, after their shocking opening day defeat in the hands of Germany - but Japan also need to bounce back after they lost on Tuesday to Serbia. Brazil lead their head-to-head record against Japan 53-14.
Head-to-head
• Brazil won 53 of the previous 67 major world level encounters with Japan.
• World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup.
• Japan have won their last two meetings with Brazil at the major world level tournaments, as many as they managed in the 33 prior to this run.
• Japan's last two wins against Brazil both came in five sets, at last year's World Grand Prix (preliminary round) and Grand Champions Cup. Brazil had lost only one set in their eight major world level encounters prior to these defeats.
• Brazil have won four of their five previous major world level meetings with Japan on home soil. The only exception was the first time Brazil played Japan in front of a home crowd at a major world level tournament: 3-1 at the 1960 World Championships.
Brazil
• Brazil lost their first match in the Nations League 3-1 against Germany. It was the first defeat for Brazil against the German team at a major world level competition since 2002 (World Grand Prix).
• In 2017, Brazil lost consecutive matches at major world level competitions on two occasions. Both times, the second defeat came against today's opponents Japan: at the 2017 World Grand Prix (3-0 v Thailand, 3-2 v Japan) and at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup (3-2 v China, 3-2 v Japan).
• The last time Brazil lost successive major world level matches by at least a two-set margin was at the 2012 Olympic Games: 3-1 against United States and 3-0 versus Republic of Korea in the preliminary round. Brazil still went on to win the Olympic title.
• Only once, Brazil lost consecutive major world level matches in front of a home crowd. At the 1960 world championship, Brazil lost all four matches in the final round (all played in Rio de Janeiro). The third defeat in that run came against Japan.
• Tandara Caixeta scored most points in Brazil's 3-1 defeat against Germany: 16, all from spikes.
• Caixeta also wears shirt number 16. The second highest scorer was Drussyla Costa, who scored 14 points wearing shirt number 14.
Japan
• Japan suffered a straight-sets defeat against Serbia in their first Nations League match.
• In total, Japan have now lost four of their last five major world level matches, with the exception of the 3-2 victory over today's opponents Brazil at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup.
• The last time Japan started a major world level tournament with consecutive defeats was at the 2014 World Grand Prix (lost first five matches). Japan went on to finish in second place in that competition.
• The last time Japan suffered two 3-0 defeats in a row in a major world level competition was at the 2016 Olympic Games, also held in Brazil. Japan lost 3-0 against hosts Brazil and Russia in the preliminary round.
• Japan have won only two of their last nine major world level matches played in Brazil. They beat Argentina and Cameroon in straight sets at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
• Despite appearing in only two sets, Arisa Inoue was Japan's top scorer against Serbia on 12 points.