Mexico City, Mexico, June 4, 2016 - When the two teams that lost their opening matches at the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Mexico meet on the second day, one of them will surely lose all chances of qualifying for Rio. So the North African clash between Tunisia and Algeria should be a fierce battle for survival.
Head-to-head
• This is a repeat of last year's semifinal at the African Championship. Tunisia won in a five-set thriller (25-19, 22-25, 25-27, 25-21, 12-15), but lost the final to Egypt (3-0).
• Tunisia and Algeria have met in each of the last four African Championships (2009-2015).
• Tunisia won the last three African Championship meetings, 3-1 in the bronze medal match in 2011, 3-2 in the group and last year's 3-2 win in semifinal.
• Algeria's last win over Tunisia at the African Championship came in 2009 in the group stage (3-0).
• These teams met once at a world level tournament. Tunisia won 3-2 at the 1991 World Cup.
Tunisia
• Tunisia lost their first match at the 2016 World Olympic Qualification tournament against Chile (3-0).
• They managed to win 21 points in all three sets.
• Tunisia's last competitive win came against today's opponents Algeria in the semifinals of the African Olympic Qualification tournament in January (3-2).
• Mohamed Ali Ben Othmen Miladi scored most points for Tunisia in the first match (14 points).
Algeria
• Algeria failed to win their opening match of the 2016 World Olympic Qualification tournament against Mexico (3-0).
• Algeria are hoping to claim their first win in this tournament since beating Thailand in straight sets in the second match of the 2008 edition.
• Soufiane Hosni scored 10 points against Mexico (8 spikes, 2 blocks), most of all players.