Florence, Italy, September 15, 2018 - Italy (2-0) host Argentina (1-1) Saturday as the co-hosts look to defend their absolutely perfect record so far in the 2018 FIVB World Championship. The two sides go head-to-head for the fifth time in World Championship history with the series level at 2-2.
Head-to-Head
• Italy and Argentina have played each other four times at the World Championship. Both nations recorded two victories.
• Argentina beat Italy 3-1 in Bydgoszcz in the second round of the 2014 World Championship.
• Italy and Argentina met twice in Buenos Aires at the 2002 World Championship, when the Argentinians were hosting the tournament. The hosts won 3-1 in the second round, but the following week the Italians were victorious 3-2 in the fifth-sixth place play-off.
• The first World Championship match between Italy and Argentina was in Rio de Janeiro in the 1990 quarterfinal. The Italians won in straight sets as they went on to win the tournament for the first time.
• Argentina beat Italy in straight sets in San Juan in the Nations League on 3 June 2018.
Italy
• Co-hosts Italy started their 2018 World Championship campaign with straight-set victories over Japan and Belgium.
• Italy could start a World Championship with three straight wins for the fourth time, after 2010 (first 7), 1998 (8) and 1978 (6). In 1978 and 1998, they went on to win the tournament.
• Italy could win three consecutive matches in straight sets within a single World Championship for the first time since 1998 (4 in a row).
• Ivan Zaytsev leads his team in scoring at the 2018 World Championship with 33 total points.
Argentina
• Argentina started their 2018 World Championship with a 3-1 defeat against Belgium and a straight-set win over the Dominican Republic.
• At the last two World Championships (2010 and 2014), Argentina won two of their first three matches.
• Argentina could win back-to-back World Championship matches in straight sets for the second time in the last 25 years. They won 3-0 against Cameroon and Australia successively in 2014.
• Cristian Poglajen was Argentina's top scorer against the Dominican Republic with 12 points, one more than Sebastian Sole. Of Sole's 11 points, six came from blocks.