Tokyo, Japan, June 7, 2019 – Brazil are seeking to continue their winning run, while Argentina are hoping to recover from their loss on the first week when they meet hosts Japan on the second week of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Brazil – Iran (June 7, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• Brazil and Iran have met 14 times at world level major tournaments. Brazil won 11 times, Iran won three.
• World level major tournaments are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Brazil have won each of their last five matches against Iran at world level major tournaments. They never won six in a row against them.
• Iran's last victory over Brazil in a world level major tournament was a 3-1 win in the 2014 World League group stage.
• The last encounter between these teams was almost a year ago. On 9 June 2018, these teams played a five-setter at the VNL, with Brazil prevailing after five sets. Douglas Souza scored 22 points for Brazil. Saber Kazemi (15) was Iran's top scorer in that match.
Brazil
• Brazil started their 2019 Volleyball Nations League with three consecutive victories. France and Iran have also won their first three matches.
• The last time Brazil started a world level major tournament with four consecutive wins was the 2015 World League (first four).
• Wallace De Souza is the top scorer for Brazil in the 2019 VNL on 49 points. He is in fourth place of the tournament's top scorers list in 2019.
• Last year, Wallace De Souza scored a 216 points in the preliminary round of the Volleybal Nations League, second-most of all players behind China's Chuan Jiang (274).
• Fernando Kreling (2.83 avg) is in the top-10 in the Best Setter category of the 2019 VNL.
Iran
• Iran started their 2019 Volleyball Nations League with three consecutive victories. Only France and Brazil have also won their first three matches.
• Iran conceded only one set so far this tournament (3-1 against Italy).
• Iran have won their last seven VNL matches, including their last two in straight sets.
• Iran could win three successive world level matches in straight sets for the first time since three in a row in the 2015 World League.
• Amir Ghafour has scored a team-high 48 points in the 2019 VNL, ranking him fifth among all players in the tournament.
• Mir Saeid Marouflakrani is the best setter in the 2019 tournament with an average of 13 per set.
Japan – Argentina (June 7, 2019)
Head-to-head
• Japan have won each of their last two major encounters with Argentina at world level.
• World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, Nations League and Grand Champions Cup.
• These two victories came after Argentina had won seven major meetings in succession at world level.
• Japan won each of their last two major encounters with Argentina in five sets, at last year's Volleyball Nations League and at last year's world championship.
Japan
• Japan have started their 2019 Volleyball Nations League campaign with one win from their first three matches. Last season, they won two of their first three matches.
• Japan have lost five of their last six VNL matches and five of those matches were decided in four sets.
• Yuji Nishida leads Japan in scoring in the 2019 VNL on 42 points (36 of which off spikes).
• In their only 2019 VNL victory thus far, facing Serbia, Yuki Ishikawa paced Japan on 19 points and was one of three players to hit double figures in scoring for his side.
Argentina
• Argentina finished their opening week with a 3-1 defeat against Canada.
• This ended a four-match VNL winning streak for Argentina, which also includes their last two matches in the competition last season. Argentina had dropped only one set in those four matches put together.
• In the opening week of the 2019 VNL, Argentina's Santiago Danani emerged as the tournament's most prolific digger, averaging 2.8 per set.
• Danani also ranks as the tournament's second best receiver, registering 30 excellent receptions from 58 total attempts in the opening weekend of the competition.
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