Katowice, Poland, May 29, 2019 - Katowice will host 2019 men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League Pool 3 with matches on Friday including an encounter between 2018 VNL bronze medallists the United States and reigning Olympic champions Brazil and hosts and world champions Poland and Australia.
United States - Brazil (May 31, 2019)
Head-to-Head
· United States and Brazil will meet for the 76th time in world level major competitions, making it the most played fixture in world level major tournaments in volleyball. USA won 48 times versus 27 victories for Brazil.
· World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, Volleyball Nations League and Grand Champions Cup.
· United States and Brazil met twice in the 2018 Volleyball Nations League. Brazil won 3-2 in the preliminary round but United States claimed a 3-0 win in the third-place match.
· That win was United States' only victory in their last five encounters with Brazil in world level major tournaments.
· United States and Brazil met in the final of the 1984 Olympic Games, the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2014 World League. USA won all three matches.
United States
· United States finished in third place at both the 2018 Volleyball Nations League and the 2018 World Championship.
· In the 2018 Volleyball Nations League, United States were defeated in the semi-finals by France (3-2) but defeated Brazil in the third-place match to finish on the podium.
· USA started their VNL campaign last year with five successive wins, including 3-2 in their opener against Argentina. United States' first defeat of the tournament came against Brazil.
· The last time United States won a world level major tournament was in 2015, when they won the World Cup.
· Apart from the World Cup (1985 and 2015), USA also won the Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 2008), World Championship (1986) and the World League (2008, 2014).
· United States are in second place in the FIVB World Ranking, behind opponents Brazil.
· Matthew Anderson (217 points) was top scorer for United States in the 2018 Volleyball Nations League. In the preliminary round, he was both the third-best spiker and third-best server.
Brazil
· Brazil are the reigning Olympic champions in men's volleyball and are leading the FIVB World Ranking.
· Brazil have been ranked first in the FIVB World Ranking ever since the introduction of the new ranking system in 2006.
· Brazil (22) are the country to have won most major world level competitions, Russia (including Soviet Union and CIS) follow on 20 titles.
· Brazil have failed to reach the podium in only two of their last 12 appearances at world level major competitions: fifth at the 2015 World League and fourth at the 2018 Volleyball Nations League.
· The Volleyball Nations League is the only of six world level major competitions which Brazil have never won.
· Last year, Brazil won eight of their first nine VNL matches, but lost seven of their last 10 matches in the competition.
· Wallace De Souza finished as the overall top scorer in the 2018 Volleyball Nations League on 277 points.
Poland - Australia (May 31, 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Poland have won seven of their eight matches against Australia at world level major tournaments. The only exception was their 3-1 defeat in the preliminary round of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
· World level major tournaments are: Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
· Since that defeat, Poland won all their three world level encounters with Australia 3-0, including at last year's Volleyball Nations League on 24 June 2018.
· Australia's Paul Carroll scored a match-high 15 points in that VNL meeting between these teams, despite being on the losing side.
Poland
· Poland have participated in the Volleyball Nations League/World League every year since 1998.
· Poland are in search of their second Volleyball Nations League/World League title and first since 2012. They claimed their only other silverware to date in 2011, when they finished third.
· Last year, Poland finished in joint-fifth place in the Volleyball Nations League, alongside Serbia.
· Poland are the two-time defending world champions, having won the world title 2014 and 2018.
· The last team to win the Volleyball Nations League/World League as reigning world champions were Brazil in 2010.
· Last season in the final round, Poland provided the tournament's best spiker (Bartosz Kurek, 63.64% success rate) and the two best setters (Fabian Drzyzga, 12.57 average - Grzegorz Lomacz, 9.57 average).
Australia
· Australia will participate in the Volleyball Nations League/World League for the seventh time, after 1999, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
· Last year, Australia finished in 13th place in the Volleyball Nations League, their second-worst finish in the tournament after a 15th place in 2017.
· In 2018, Australia started their VNL campaign with four successive defeats, before claiming their first win in match five against Bulgaria (3-0).
· Australia are coming off three straight defeats in the Volleyball Nations League, with the last of those being a 3-0 versus Poland on 24 June 2018.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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