BY SCOTT FRENCH
Senior Editor
U.S. women's national team midfielders Aly Wagner and Angela Hucles swapped WUSA clubs on Wednesday in the biggest trade in the league's brief history.
Wagner, considered one of the best, perhaps the best, passers in the women's game, was sent by the San Diego Spirit to the Boston Breakers in exchange for Hucles, a versatile midfielder who plays a reserve role with the national team, and the Breakers' second-round selection — 14th overall — in next year's draft.
The deal was announced Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the national team finished its training session at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., where the U.S. women have been preparing for the Sept. 20-Oct. 12 Women's World Cup.
It was a stunning trade that sent shockwaves through American women's soccer and forged some turmoil in the U.S. camp.
''I think [Aly and I are] going through the same thing right now, going through a lot of emotions,'' Hucles said. ''I have mixed emotions, mostly because I've been with Boston for three years and I felt comfortable there. But at the same time it's a business, and I'm excited as well. I'm leaving one good team to go to another good team. They've got great players in San Diego, and they're eager to win a championship as well.''
Wagner was said to be unhappy with the trade, and she acknowledged through a U.S. Soccer spokesman that she was ''disappointed because I loved everything about San Diego: the team, the fans and the organization.''
The MAC Hermann Trophy winner following a glorious career at Santa Clara University, Wagner was the No. 1 selection in last winter's WUSA draft and started 20 games as a Spirit rookie, contributing two goals and four assists as the team struggled to utilize her best qualities. A strong second half of the season was critical to San Diego reaching the playoffs for the first time.
Hucles, a forward at the University of Virginia, is a versatile and consistent player whose supportive play behind stars Maren Meinert, Dagny Mellgren and Kristine Lilly helped Boston win the regular-season title and make its first playoff appearance. Hucles, used primarily as a deep-lying midfielder, has scored six goals with eight assists in 57 WUSA games over three seasons.
Meinert, playing for Germany in the upcoming World Cup, ended her WUSA career this summer. Wagner, more of a true playmaker than Meinert, will fill the Breakers' creative void.
Hucles will share duties in central midfield with Foudy, and she may step into Joy Fawcett's spot when the 35-year-old central defender retires.
''We just felt that with the trade, and getting Angela — and the draft pick that goes with it — we become a better team,'' San Diego coach Omid Namazi said. ''My vision of this team is to become a better all-around team as far as speed and athleticism and versatility. … We feel Angela gives us something in the middle of the park.
''With Angela, it gives us more options as far as how we can play, what position she plays in. She's the prototypical modern soccer player, in my opinion. We feel we'll be better with her.''
Namazi said he had put in an international discovery request to sign a foreign playmaker — he would not identify her or her country but said she would be playing in the Women's World Cup — who would take Wagner's role.
Hucles said she and Wagner talked after the trade, and that U.S. teammates from the clubs involved spent the afternoon sadly saying farewell to one teammate while welcoming the other onto their teams. San Diego captain Julie Foudy has been Hucles' roommate during this camp.
Hucles said she was ''choosing to focus on the positives'' of the trade rather than thinking ''what bad things I might have done to get traded.''
''Aly and I were teasing each other,'' she said. ''She was saying, 'Let's put it this way: Boston really wants me, and San Diego really wants you.' ''
Said Wagner: ''Boston has an awesome team, and I'll fit into their style of play very well. I already know a lot of their players, and I'm really looking forward to playing with Dagny.''
Wagner will be reunited with Devvyn Hawkins, with whom she teamed in midfield when Santa Clara won the NCAA title in 2001 and reached the title game last fall.
Hucles said Wednesday evening she has never thought about playing as a central defender, and that she had not yet spoken with Namazi. She was happy to hear of praise from the coach.
''It's good to hear the positive things he's said about me,'' Hucles said. ''It's nice to be going someplace that's welcoming you, that's excited to have you there.''
News of the deal was greeted with shock. Most had believed Namazi would build his team around Wagner, who has the potential to be the foremost attacking personality in women's soccer for years.
San Diego's dealings involving Wagner have proven costly. In essence, the Spirit — which engineered a multi-player deal nearly a year ago to get the draft choice used on Wagner — has traded Wagner, U.S. national team midfielder Shannon Boxx, forward Christie Welsh, defender Margaret Tietjen and goalkeeper Carly Smolak for Hucles, reserve midfielder Jen Nielsen, goalkeeper Jenni Branam and the 14th-best player available next winter.
The Spirit sent Boxx, Tietjen, Smolak and the No. 2 draft selection to New York in exchange for the No. 1 pick, also receiving Nielsen, since-released utility player Wynne McIntosh and the draft choice used to take Branam. That trade, made Sept. 30, 2003, was finalized before Namazi was hired as Spirit coach.