A couple of serious explanations:

1:The best teams have trained to peak after the preliminary rounds, so that they are able to go far. This could obviously backfire ;-) 2:Some say the ball acts weird... And it doesnt help that some games are played at ground level and others at 1800 meters (5500 feet) even in the same group. Also explains why some teams visibly runs out of breath after an hour.

Still Im willing to bet that come quarterfinals there are only one or two surprises left... One such is that either Brazil or Spain is out, since today's result with Spain (which isnt all that surprising) points towards them meeting in 1/8 final.

The discussion about the horns is total BS - not so long ago soccerfans carried compressed air in a can with a truck horn attached. That was just as loud... Yes they are banned now but...