Rio de Janeiro, August 11, 2016 - Brazil's Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg are looking for the home crowd to cheer them on to their first pool D win against Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia to wrap up the men's pool play competition. A loss by the Brazilians will knock them out of the Olympics with a 19th-place finish. A win could leave them in a three-way tie for 2nd place if Cuba beats Canada in the other pool play match or a two-way tie for 3rd place if Canada wins. A win by Latvia would put them in either a three-way tie for 1st place if Canada wins or sole possession of 2nd place if Cuba wins.
Head to Head
Goncalves/Solberg have won the only match between the two teams on the FIVB World Tour, just one month ago.
• Goncalves/Solberg won 21-17, 19-21, and 15-11 in 47 minutes, Gstaad Major, Pool Play, 07/08/2016
Historically the #4 seed and the #9 seed have split their four meetings in the Olympic Games
• Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel (9), Poland def. Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal (4), United States, 21-17, 21-18 in 43 minutes, Pool Play, London (2012).
• Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz Magalhaes (4), Brazil def. Dmitri Barsouk/Igor Kolodinsky (9), Russia, 24-22, 21-17 in 48 minutes, Pool Play, Beijing (2008).
• Jorre Kjemperud/Vegard Hoidalen (9), Norway def. Markus Dieckmann/Jonas Reckermann (4), Germany, 22-24, 26-24, 15-13 in 73 minutes, Pool Play, Athens (2004).
• Mike Dodd/Mike Whitmarsh (4), United States def. Javier Bosma/Sixto Jimenez (9), Spain, 15-6 in 30 minutes, Winner's Bracket Round 4, Atlanta (1996).
Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil, Seed #4, Pool D, 0-2, 0.500 Set Ratio, 0.9737 Point Ratio, Qualified as Host Nation Representative
• Evandro: July 17, 1990 (26y0m20d), 210 cm (6'11"), 105 kg (233 lbs.), Hometown Rio de Janeiro, 53rd FIVB World Tour event, three gold medals, $316,900 career winnings (ranks 60th)
• Pedro: March 27, 1986 (30y4m10d), 194 cm (6'4"), 95 kg (211 lbs.), Hometown Rio de Janeiro, 132nd FIVB World Tour event (ranks 30th), 16 gold medals (ranks 9th), $916,962 career winnings (ranks 7th)
• Evandro and Pedro have been playing together since 2015. They are playing in their 20th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, two gold medals, $411,000 career winnings (ranks 44th).
• Evandro has played in nine FIVB World Tour final fours with three gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
• Pedro has played in 48 FIVB World Tour final fours with 16 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze medals and 12 4th place finishes.
• Evandro and Pedro have played in seven Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Moscow Grand Slam 2015, Gold Stavanger Major 2015, Bronze World Championships 2015, Bronze World Tour Finals 2015, Silver Maceió Open 2016, Silver Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam 2016, Gold Gstaad Major 2016).
• Evandro and Pedro won the bronze medal in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Evandro finished 5th in the FIVB World Championships with Vitor Felipe in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Pedro finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Harley Marques in 2007 (Gstaad) 17th with Pedro Cunha in 2009 (Stavanger), 5th with Rhooney Ferramenta in 2011 (Rome), and 5th with Bruno Oscar Schmidt in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Evandro and Pedro are currently ranked 14th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,890 points and 4th in winnings with $166,000.
• Evandro and Pedro have a career 74-36 (67.3%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events, all in 2015-16.
• Pedro won the gold medal at the U18 World Championships (Xylokastro, Greece) and the silver medal in 2003 (Pattaya, Thailand), both with Ian Borges.
• Pedro won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Pedro Cunha in 2003 (Saint Quay Portrieux, France), the bronze medal with Neilton Santos in 2004 (Porto Santo, Portugal), and the gold medal with Bruno Oscar Schmidt in 2006 (Myslowice, Poland).
• Evandro won a gold medal with Vitor Felipe on the South American (CSV) Continental Tour in 2013 (Chile).
• Evandro was named the FIVB World Tour Best Server in 2015.
• Pedro was named the FIVB World Tour Best Blocker in 2013 and was Team of the Year and Tour Points Champion with Harley Marques in 2008.
• Pedro hails from a volleyball family - sisters Carolina and Maria Clara have played on the women’s World Tour and his mother, Isabel, is a former winner on the circuit
• Lost to Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba (21), 22-24, 23-21, and 13-15 in 59 minutes.
• Lost to Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada (16), 21-17, 18-21, and 14-16 in 58 minutes.
Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia, Seed #9, Pool D, 1-1, 1.000 Set Ratio, 0.9722 Point Ratio, Qualified 8th with 5,390 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Aleksandrs: April 6, 1985 (31y4m0d), 196 cm (6'5"), 96 kg (213 lbs.), Hometown Riga, 136th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 24th), nine gold medals (ranks 21st), $590,087 career winnings (ranks 25th)
• Janis: July 31, 1987 (29y0m6d), 191 cm (6'3"), 84 kg (186 lbs.), Hometown Kuldiga, 98th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 80th), 10 gold medals (ranks 17th), $509,987 career winnings (ranks 33rd)
• Aleksandrs and Janis have been playing together since 2013. They are playing in their 47th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 58th), nine gold medals (ranks 10th), $771,675 career winnings (ranks 16th).
• Aleksandrs has played in 22 FIVB World Tour final fours with nine gold, six silver, three bronze medals and four 4th place finishes.
• Janis has played in 25 FIVB World Tour final fours with 10 gold, six silver, four bronze medals and five 4th place finishes.
• Aleksandrs and Janis have played in 10 Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Gstaad Major 2015, Gold Rio de Janeiro Open 2015, Gold Sochi Open 2015, Bronze Xiamen Open 2015, 4th Fuzhou Open 2016, Gold Antalya Open 2016, Gold Olsztyn Grand Slam 2016, 4th Porec Major 2016, Bronze Gstaad Major 2016, Gold Klagenfurt Major 2016).
• Aleksandrs finished 9th in the Olympic Games with Martins Plavins in 2008 (Beijing) and finished 9th with Ruslans Sorokins in 2012 (London).
• Janis won the bronze medal in the Olympic Games with Martins Plavins in 2012 (London).
• Aleksandrs and Janis finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Aleksandrs finished 37th in the FIVB World Championships with Martins Plavins in 2007 (Gstaad), 9th in 2009 (Stavanger) and 17th in 2011 (Rome), both with Ruslans Sorokins, and 17th with Martins Plavins in 2015 (The Hague).
• Janis finished 4th in the FIVB World Championships with Martins Plavins in 2011 (Rome).
• Aleksandrs and Janis are currently ranked 1st in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 5,270 points and 1st in winnings with $217,875.
• Aleksandrs and Janis have a career 204-68 (75.0%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 93-34 (73.2%) record in 2015-16.
• Aleksandrs and Janis won the gold medal at the European (CEV) Championship Final in 2015 (Klagenfurt, Austria).
• Aleksandrs won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Martins Plavins in 2005 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
• Janis won the bronze medal at the U18 World Championships with Ingars Ivanovs in 2004 (Termoli, Italy).
• Aleksandrs and Janis were the FIVB World Tour Team of the Year and Tour Points Champions in 2013 and 2014.
• Janis was named the FIVB World Tour Best Hitter in 2013 and 2014, Best Offensive Player in 2013, Best Setter in 2013, and Sportsperson in 2013.
• Janis missed the 2015 FIVB World Championships in The Netherlands with a knee injury.
• Defeated Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada (16), 21-17, 18-21, and 15-13 in 55 minutes.
• Lost to Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba (21), 21-23, 21-19, and 9-15 in 51 minutes.