Fill in your name/sign, and pick which knockout round this is for (currently Round of 16 — more rounds open up as the knockout stage progresses).
As a baseline I'll use (I know my football, played a lot of AI football back in the day) FIFA ranking, recent form, goal difference and recent international results, plus how each team did in the last World Cup or continental tournament (historical performance under tournament pressure). Note that home/away stats aren't very relevant for most teams — everyone's away from home at the World Cup except the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
Most important: write freely about what you want the predictions to weigh — teams you like or dislike, countries or continents, any pet preferences (food, motorcycles, flowers, anything at all). The more fun/specific/unusual, the more personalized the predictions and the funnier the reasoning you'll get back! Finally I'll throw in some honest randomness — and you'll get your winning line.
OBS: NOTE: Once the AI has placed your tips, the final word is not said - you can change your tips and overwrite the old ones at any time before the match starts - as long as you use the exact same name/sign.