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21 FOOTBALL Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 14 JANUARY 2015 FOOTBALL Ballon d'Or: Roy Hodgson mocked for snubbing Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi England coach Roy Hodgson caused a stir with his Ballon d'Or voting after omitting both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi from his top three Roy Hodgson RONALDO claimed the award for the second successive year after winning 37.66 per cent of all votes, while four-time world player of the year Messi was second with 15.76 per cent, just ahead of Manuel Neu- er (15.72 per cent). Instead of plumping for the two players widely regarded as the best on the planet, Hodgson opted for Javier Mascherano as his top pick, with Philipp Lahm second and Neuer third. Only one other international manager selected Barcelona and Argentina defender/midfielder Mascherano as their first choice for the award - Belarus boss Andrei Zygmantovitch - and Hodgson's picks have certainly created waves on social media. Former England captain Gary Lineker was among those to tweet their surprise, saying of Hodgson: "You have to love his sense of hu- mour. Ronaldo and Messi are far and away the best players on the planet, how could they both possi- bly not be in your top 3?" Meanwhile, Jamie Carragher - who played under Hodgson at Liv- erpool - tweeted: "Love Roy Hodg- son going for a clean sheet with his Ballon D'or picks. 1)Mascherano 2) Lahm 3)Neuer." Hodgson is not the first England boss to stray from the norm when it comes to FIFA Ballon d'Or voting, though, with Fabio Capello going for Maicon as one of his top three selections in 2010. Maicon helped Inter Milan win the treble of Champions League, Se- rie A and Coppa Italia in 2010, but aside from Capello only five other coaches voted for the Brazil inter- national - those from Albania, Ber- muda, FYR Macedonia, Tajikistan and Venezuela. This is how England coaches have voted since the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010: 2010: Fabio Capello: First: Andres Iniesta. Second: Xavi. Third: Maicon. 2011: Fabio Capello: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney. 2012: Roy Hodgson: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Radamel Falcao. 2013: Roy Hodgson: Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robin van Persie. 2014: Roy Hodgson: Javier Mascherano, Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer. FORMULA 1 Anthony Hamilton is predicting his son Lewis could wrap up the 2015 F1 title by the middle of the season 'Lewis Hamilton can win title by summer' THE Mercedes driver clinched his second world championship at the final race of the 2014 season in Abu Dhabi after a year-long battle with teammate Nico Rosberg. However, the Briton suffered un- reliability problems right from the off when he was forced to retire from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and Hamilton Snr thinks without any issues the title could be clinched even sooner. "You never know, but I think if you look at what Lewis went through last year, we started the year where we felt that if everything had gone well, by mid-year he probably would have won the championship," he told Sky Sports Online. "I think the same thing could poten- tially happen this year – if he starts well, if the car is good, performance is good, I think Lewis could win the championship again this year." However, Hamilton knows it won't be easy for his son as he predicts a resurgent Rosberg to come back even stronger after the heartache of 2014. "I am expecting 150 per cent extra from Nico this year," he added. "I think he'll come with a different mind-set, a different approach, a dif- ferent understanding of Lewis and how to beat Lewis – because it is dif- ficult to beat Lewis, he's a mercenary when it comes down to it. I think Nico has probably gone back to the drawing board and had a re-think, because no one is unbeatable, you've just got to find the right way." Much was made of the rivalry be- tween the Mercedes drivers during their title duel, but having seen the pair grow up together, Hamilton says tensions were never personal. "At the end of the day it is competi- tion and there is a huge respect and friendship between both boys and it has been there a long, long time – those boys have known each other since they were 13," he said. "But obviously we are at the height of their careers and when you get to this stage there are going to be ten- sions – but it is not personal tensions, it is business. It would be the same if you were sitting in an office with your best friend and there is only one job, you'll still be best friends and you'll still be going out for a drink, but you'd still want to beat that guy to the next job. So the friendship is strong." The title fight may once again be a fight between the childhood friends and whilst Hamilton accepts tension may flair again, he is predicting a dif- ferent sort of competition. "Yes, but I think it will be a differ- ent kind of rivalry this year," he said. "I think the respect between them will have grown immensely and I think both guys are sensitive for each other. "So it was tough on Nico to come so close but not get the championship, and it was tough on Lewis. I think there is going to be a huge amount of respect for each other and a lot of give and take and I think this season is going to be the most interesting between those guys." Lewis and Anthony Hamilton