Varna, Bulgaria, September 16, 2018 – Puerto Rico and Finland will have their first ever meeting in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Sunday.
Head-to-Head
• Puerto Rico and Finland will play each other for the first time in a world level major tournament match.
• The world level major tournaments are Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.
Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico started their 2018 World Championship campaign with 3-0 defeats against Iran, Poland and Bulgaria.
• In 2014, Puerto Rico had lost their first three World Championship matches all in straight sets, before they collected their only win of that tournament: 3-1 against Italy.
• Including their last match of the 2014 tournament, Puerto Rico have lost four World Championship matches in a row by a 3-0 scoreline. This could be five straight for the second time, after they lost their first eight matches in straight sets on their World Championship debut in 1974.
• Maurice Torres was Puerto Rico's top scorer in their first two 2018 World Championship matches, with 10 points against Iran and eight against Poland. Pablo Guzman led his team in scoring against Bulgaria (11 points).
Finland
• Finland have won one and lost two matches at the 2018 World Championship.
• Finland could win two of their first four matches for the second World Championship in a row, after 2014. They had never won more than two of their first four fixtures at any prior World Championship.
• Finland could win at least one set in three straight matches in a single World Championship for the first time since the last five matches of 1982.
• Samuli Kaislasalo led his team in scoring with 14 points in the 3-1 defeat against Poland on Saturday. Niko Suihkonen (10) also reached double figures.