Angel City and the Portland Thorns have agreed to a trade before the roster freeze on October 9th. Midfielder, and Japanese international, Hina Sugita will join Angel City in exchange for outside back MA Vignola and $600,000 in intra-league transfer funds. I wanted to take a moment to talk about the trade a bit and recognize both of these players.

When I started watching soccer back in 2023, I was immediately drawn to MA Vignola. She’s just one of those players that makes you feel something when you watch her. Attacking fullbacks are some of my favorite types of players, and Vignola is just that. She’s pacy, good on the dribble, solid contributor in the attack, and strong on the defensive line. What I really fell in love with, though, is her passion.

Vignola plays with a grit and joy that is palpable from the stands and through the screen. It is those qualities that have made her responsible for some of my favorite Angel City moments. She was one of the goal-scorers at Snapdragon Stadium that started the 2023 11-game unbeaten run. She opened the scoring against the Thorns in Angel City’s 5-1 victory to get them into the playoffs. She got Sydney Leroux fired up after she played her a perfect assist. This season she celebrated so hard that she knocked herself over. 

Those are only a few of her shining moments with the club. She has an infectious energy that made her a favorite among fans. Vignola has experienced some trouble with injury throughout her professional career. As a result, she has been in and out of the starting XI for Angel City. During the international break, the club picked up Evelyn Shores, a young talent from UNC who has experience playing outside back and midfield. Due to injury, illness, other player absences and positional flexibility, Vignola has been losing playing time or being played out of position. Despite the durability troubles, Vignola is still in her prime years and more than deserves to be lining up at the beginning of a match.

Portland is likely a good fit for Vignola. The Thorns have been trying to patch up defensive short-comings for the past couple of seasons. Primarily by trying to ignore the holes with good offense. So it’s good for them to pick up a starting quality, dynamic defender, especially with all of the injuries to their squad. As sad as it is to see her go, the move makes sense and I wish her well up in the Pacific Northwest.

Thank you, MA, for everything you gave to Angel City. You will be missed.

I loosely follow the Portland Thorns because they’re my hometown team. I’ll tune in if they’re playing. If Angel City isn’t playing I’ll cheer for them. I also am just a big fan of the Japanese women’s national team. Thus, I am somewhat familiar with Hina Sugita. Similar to Vignola, she’s one of those players that stirs something up in the viewer. She’s experienced, technical, and creative. She covers a lot of ground and her ability on the ball is just so much fun to watch.

Angel City has tried, to varying degrees of success, to address their weakness in the midfield. First it was solved with a double pivot with Amandine Henry and Madison Hammond. Alanna Kennedy and Katie Zelem stepped in and brought a maturity to the center of the park that had been missing in the aftermath of Henry’s departure. However, the short-comings of these solutions were made apparent when multiple Head Coaches tried to get the squad passing through the lines and controlling the ball whether that be due to lack of pace, technical ability, or both. Angel City often found themselves woefully exposed in the back when flying forward, or anemic in the attack when trying to keep things locked down, and very rarely anything in between. Sporting Director Mark Parsons started to address this with the signing of Nealy Martin, and it seems he really means business with the signing of Sugita.

Over her seasons at Portland, Sugita has taken on various roles, primarily in the midfield. This is demonstrated by the position maps for Sugita’s last two seasons with the Thorns below. In my opinion, the Thorns often looked better when she was on the pitch, particularly during Head Coach Rob Gale’s explorations around who’s in his best XI. I expect that she will slot into a center midfield role in front of Martin and behind Kennedy Fuller or Maiara Niehues. Depending on the game plan, she can play in a double pivot if needed. Martin seems to primarily operate as a lone defensive midfielder, so Sugita should usually be free to add her creative flair to the attack and get forward. It also looks like some of her most productive work comes from the left, which is an exciting prospect with Jun Endo typically also playing on the left.

Only time will tell how it will all play out, but I am so excited to have Sugita in the squad. She will be reunited with Japanese teammates and reconnect with Parsons who worked so hard to bring her to the NWSL in the first place. Angel City’s midfield has been crying out for a player like her, and she may be the key to unlocking better opportunities in the offense and providing better cover on the defense.

Sugita is beloved by the Thorns fanbase and her teammates. The above video shows just a fraction of the reason. Those in the Hina Hive call her joy personified and I am so excited to see what she brings to Angel City.

**Images courtesy of Angel City unless otherwise cited