Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17, 2016 - Neighbours and archrivals Brazil and Argentina are sure to pack the Maracanazinho completely for the South American derby in the last quarterfinal of the men’s volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Wednesday evening.
This will be the 38th time Brazil and Argentina face each other in a world-level competition. Brazil have beaten their neighbours 34 times.
The Argentineans were successful against Brazil only three times, but always at the Olympic Games and most recently in a Sydney 2000 quarterfinal.
The two sides have met on the Olympic stage at Los Angeles 1984 (3-1 to Brazil), at Seoul 1988 (3-2 to Argentina), twice at Atlanta 1996 (3-1 to Argentina and 3-1 to Brazil), at Sydney 2000 (3-1 to Argentina) and at London 2012 (3-0 to Brazil, also in a quarterfinal match).
The last time Argentina won a set against Brazil was back in 2011. In the following six consecutive world-level clashes between the two nations Brazil defeated their Argentinean opponents in straight sets, most recently by 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 26-24) on June 17 of this year in an FIVB Volleyball World League 2016 match here, in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil’s qualification for these quarterfinals was at risk until their very last match in Pool A. The hosts caught the last train to the knockout stage as fourth in the pool with a 3-2 win-loss ratio and nine points, but worse on set ratio than Canada and USA.
Ricardo Lucarelli is their best scorer of the tournament so far. With 74 points on his tally he ranks as the fourth best scorer of the pool stage.
It may have come as a surprise to many, but Argentina finished the preliminary round as Pool B winner with four victories and only one loss (to Poland), leaving behind Poland on set ratio and Russia on ranking points.
Their Facundo Conte is 11th in the overall Best Scorers ranking with 62 points.