Florence, Italy, September 18, 2018 - Japan and Argentina go head-to-head Tuesday, with the last ticket to Round 2 of the 2018 FIVB World Championship at stake. The Asian side need a win for full points to advance, while Argentina can go through with just two sets. They two meet for ninth time in the history of the competition, with Argentina leading the series 5-3.
Head-to-Head
• Japan and Argentina have played each other eight times at the World Championship. The Japanese have won three matches and the Argentinians have been victorious in five.
• Japan (8) are the opponents Argentina have played the most World Championship matches against, while the Japanese have only played more fixtures at the tournament versus Poland (9) and Russia (9, including as Soviet Union).
• The latest in a World Championship Japan and Argentina have met was in the third-place play-off in 1982. The hosts won in straight sets in Buenos Aires.
• Japan won both of their first two World Championship matches versus Argentina, but have been victorious in only one of the six fixtures at the tournament against them since (3-1 in Saitama in 2006).
• The most recent World Championship match between Japan and Argentina was in Milan in 2010. The South Americans won 3-1.
• Japan beat Argentina 3-2 in Ludwigsburg in the Nations League on 17 June 2018.
Japan
• Japan have won one and lost three matches at the 2018 World Championship so far.
• In 2010, their previous World Championship campaign, Japan won one of their five matches, a five-setter against Egypt.
• Japan could win two of their first five matches of a World Championship campaign for the first time since 2006, when they won three of their first five and advanced to the second round.
• Yuki Ishikawa is Japan's top scorer in this tournament on 54 points.
Argentina
• Argentina have two wins and two defeats at the 2018 World Championship.
• Just like in 2014, Argentina could win three of the five World Championship first round matches.
• Argentina can win back-to-back matches for the first time at the 2018 World Championship.
• Five Argentina players reached double figures in scoring in the 3-2 win against Slovenia on Monday: Bruno Lima (18), Cristian Poglajen (16), Lisandro Zanotti (13), Sebastian Solé (12) and Facundo Conte (11).
• Cristian Poglajen (48 total points) is Argentina's most prolific scorer at the 2018 World Championship with two more points than Bruno Lima (46).