Brasilia, Brazil, June 27, 2019 - Week 5 of the 2019 men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Brasilia featured victories for Canada against Italy and for pool hosts Brazil against France.
Italy-Canada
Brazil-France
Pre-match stats:
Italy - Canada (June 28, 2019)
Head-to-head
· Canada have won each of their last three major encounters with Italy at world level, after Italy had won each of the teams' first 15 encounters on a major stage.
· World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
· Italy's last world level victory against Canada came at the 2015 World Cup (3-1).
· They also met in the League Round of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League last season, with Canada emerging victorious 3-1 in San Juan, Argentina.
Italy
· For the first time this VNL season, Italy have lost back-to-back matches. They have yet to lose three in a row in the competition.
· Before losing two in a row, Italy had won eight of their previous nine VNL matches.
· Simone Giannelli's average of 0.36 is one of the highest in the Best Servers category.
· Giannelli (7.75) is also one of two players to have an average of more than 7.50 as Best Setter. Iran's Mir Saeid Marouflakrani (8.81) is the other player.
Canada
· Canada have won seven of their 12 VNL matches this season and are the best ranked of the four teams that received an invitation to appear in this season's VNL.
· Canada started this VNL season with a defeat, before winning four in a row, then losing four in a row and now again winning three in succession.
· Of Canada's last eight VNL matches, only one was decided either way in straight sets.
· Graham Vigrass ranks as the tournament's leading blocker. He has made 25 stuff blocks and sports an average of 0.52 per set.
Brazil - France (June 28, 2019)
Head-to-head
· Brazil have a W29-L9 record against France at major world level competitions.
· France have won three of their last five major encounters at world level with Brazil.
· Of the preceding 33 meetings on a major stage, Brazil won 27 of the 33 and at one point beat the French in 13 encounters in a row.
· Last season, they met in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League both in the League Round and Final Round. France won both matches.
Brazil
· Brazil can secure a place in the Final Round with a victory or a 3-2 defeat. They are also on the plane to Chicago should Italy or Poland lose on Friday.
· Brazil have won 11 of their 12 Volleyball Nations League matches in 2019, with the only exception in this run their 3-2 defeat to Serbia on 14 June.
· Brazil have already improved on their number of wins recorded in the preliminary round of the 2018 VNL (10).
· Ricardo Lucarelli Souza's spike success rate of 55.96 is the second highest in the 2019 VNL, behind only Iran's Amir Ghafour (57.30).
France
· France won all of their three matches in Week 4, after pinching only one victory from three attempts in Week 3.
· France can win four VNL matches in a row for the first time since the start of this season, when they opened this VNL campaign with five successive victories.
· Jean Patry leads France on 99 VNL points this season. Opposing Brazil have three players that are into triple figures already in the competition.
· Antoine Brizard is among this season's best VNL setters, producing only three faults in 534 total attempts this season.