By college tennis coach pounded home a maxim that has stayed with me over the years: “The toughest thing in sports is to play with a lead.”

When you realize you’re winning, you’re tempted to ease up. Or you start wondering if you’re really that good. Or you figure your should just nurse your lead rather than trying to increase it. Give in to those temptations, and you break another of the coach’s rules: “Never change a winning game.”

England, with the lead against Argentina, switched gears and started playing defensively. Fatal error.

BTW these rules apply to life in general, not just sports.