Lodz, Poland, September 17, 2014 - Title-holders Brazil, who lost their first FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Round 3 match against Poland on Tuesday, take on Russia in Lodz tonight.
Head-to-Head• This will be the 11th World Championship meeting between Brazil and Russia. Brazil have won the last three meetings, each of which came after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
• The first seven meetings were won by the Soviet Union, which later continued as Russia.
• Their most recent match-up came on 14 September of this year, when Brazil beat Russia 3-1.
• This is a sequel to two gold medal matches in the competition. In 1982, the Soviet Union beat Brazil 3-0 and in 2002 Brazil beat Russia 3-2.
• These teams also met in the final of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Russia won that match 3-2.
Brazil
• Poland beat Brazil 3-2 in their most recent match to end Brazil's team record 13-match winning streak at the World Championship.
• It was Brazil's first defeat since a second round 3-0 loss against Bulgaria in 2010.
• They can lose back-to-back World Championship matches for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Italy (semifinal) and Cuba (third place match) respectively.
• Brazil have lost 199 sets at World Championships so far.
Russia
• Russia's 11-match winning streak was halted by upcoming opponents Brazil last Sunday (3-1 loss).
• Russia have lost their last three matches against Brazil. They have never lost four consecutive matches against a specific opponent. They did previously lose three in a row against Czechoslovakia (1966-1974), Poland (1970-1974) and Italy (1994-2006).
• The last time Russia lost consecutive World Championship matches was in 2010.