Gary Hines scoring one of his 7 goals for HSC Bad Neustadt this past weekend.

This past weekend Gary Hines led his German club, HSC Bad Neustadt to a pivotal, 22-20 early season victory over HSC 2000 Coburg.   Hines led all scorers with 7 goals in front of almost 1,000 fans in a highly charged atmosphere in Coburg.   Going into the match undefeated, 7-0-0 HSC Bad Neustadt had a 2 point lead in the 3rd Division Southern League standings over 7-1-0 Coburg.  With the victory on the road in front of nearly 1,ooo fans Coburg, Bad Neustadt is now solidly in first place, 4 points clear of the still, 2nd place Coburg.

Hines, 29, is now in his 4th season with Bad Neustadt.  Since first seeing Gary play 9 years ago at the U.S. National Championships I’ve been promoting him as a player who can and should be playing at a higher level.  Quite frankly, comparisons to France’s Luc Abalo are not much of a stretch in terms of raw athletic capability.  I’m not sure why some 2nd Division or even some 1st Division clubs haven’t gone after him, but with Bad Neustadt at the top of the table he may just travel with his current club there.

Interestingly, the club also has added another Pan American player, Emil Feuchtmann, 30, who has been a key player on the Chilean National Team for several years.  Could a showdown between the two Bad Neustadt players be in the offing for the 2014 Pan American players this summer in Uruguay?

Video:  HSC Coburg Report:  Link  (Pretty nice for the losing team to provide everyone a Gary Hines highlight video)

Video:  HangTime Hines Top 10:  Link

Match Report:  Link

German 3rd Division (Southern League) Standings:  Link

THN (May 2010):  Get this guy a contract!:  Link