Why would I weight in every single match both of there countries have ever played? How do the results that Pele's team had help forecast events in 2014?
I agree that recent result (Like games that will be played during the tournament) can be used to assess potential match winners, but that's not really a statical analysis. Recent results are a reflection of teams current form which I'm suggesting is the most important factor for match prediction.
Clearly, matches played roughly 50 years ago barely weigh in. Nonetheless, there are various rationales behind incorporating those matches. For instance, the home advantage of a given country is partially based on every single historical result. Why? Because the home advantage significantly affects the outcome of a given match, whereby the pattern of home advantage over time indirectly assesses the support of a given country. For instance, a home crowd of 60,000 might affect the outcome to a higher degree when compared to a home crowd of 20,000, where a Brazilian home crowd possibly affects the outcome to a higher degree in comparison to an Algerian home crowd, et cetera.
People do mention the weather conditions a lot for this WC. If it affect the players as much as they say, teams such as Spain who prefer the passing game could gain a significant advantage within the 70-90min mark if they have been forcing the opposition chasing after the ball throughout the game.
This is a common misconception, as statistics show that there is no significant difference in distance covered between offensive teams and defensive teams. Personally, I think that has to do with the way defensive teams fall back to 30/40 meters, effectively decreasing the distance between defenders and strikers, benefiting midfielders as well. For instance, Mourinho's Porto, Inter Milan, Chelsea and to a lesser extent Real Madrid, have all used this tactic successfully, without increasing the average distance covered.
I have the shakira song on loop. lol. So ready to get underway! 
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