How The Kansas City Current Made It — AD Franch And Total Team Defense

It was quite the scene at the KC Live! watch party, “What just happened?” — A fan asked me after Alex Loera had just cleared a ball off the line (or maybe behind the line) to keep AD Franch’s league record clean sheet in tact. AD Franch’s massive performance upheld by a teammate who has fully committed to the cause, something you see all over the pitch anytime you watch a Kansas City Current game — turned up to 11 for a chance at their first ever NWSL final. Supporters in obvious disbelief watching their team still in full control of their destiny and keeping one of the league’s most prolific attacks off the scoresheet.

After-all, it was a little over a year ago that the Portland Thorns traded goalkeeper Adrianna Franch to Kansas City in exchange for goalkeeper Abby Smith and $150,000 in allocation money. Has there ever been a more consequential trade in NWSL history?

AD Franch finished 3rd in the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year and was 3rd in PSxG+/- (a fancy way of saying she stopped shots that a league average goalkeeper wouldn’t have stopped), and injected the team with a level of intensity that only a former Concacaf GK of the year could bring to a new team. Franch wasn’t the only missing piece in the team’s inaugural roster but for a team that didn’t have a keeper in the top 10 of expected saves last season, her stature is a large part of why they were so successful after a year where they finished with just 16 points.