photo by David Richard/USA Today Sports

By FRANCO PANIZO

MONTREAL — Frank Klopas was in no real hurry to reveal who his starting goalkeeper would be for Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions League final second leg, but all signs pointed to that player being Kristian Nicht.

Dealing with a conundrum in between the pipes because of a combination of injuries and suspensions, the Montreal Impact signed Nicht via a full transfer from NASL club Indy Eleven on Monday. Nicht is now a candidate along with John Smits to replace suspended incumbent Evan Bush in Wednesday night’s decisive championship match against Club America.

It is the 33-year-old Nicht who seems likely to get the nod at the jam-packed Olympic Stadium, however. He not only possesses more experience than Smits after spending several of his early years playing in his native Germany, including in the Bundesliga, but is also familiar with the Impact’s players.

He was with the MLS club as a backup goalkeeper in February for both of its quarterfinals matches vs. Pachuca, and again in March for the second leg of its semifinals series against Alajuelense.

“It’s difficult to replace your starting keeper with anyone you put in there, for sure,” said Klopas, whose Impact hold the away-goal advantage after last week’s 1-1 draw in Mexico City. “But if you can say what’s the best-case scenario, you bring a guy that’s familiar to the group, that’s an experienced player.

“In games like this, whoever you put in there, you can’t put the pressure on one guy. It’s going to be very unfair whoever we put in there to say, ‘Here, you have to save the day for the team.'”

Nicht did not look or sound like someone at all fazed by the occasion when he met with media on Tuesday. He cracked several jokes, in fact, and spoke about how he has played in front of big crowds like the one of 61,000-plus that is expected on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-5 goalkeeper is also not completely unfamiliar with Club America. He watched last Wednesday’s first leg alone at a pub in Indianapolis because he didn’t get the TV channel that the game was on, and has also been doing plenty of brushing up on the Liga MX side over the last 36 hours.

“I saw that game, I saw a couple of videos yesterday evening along with meeting with our goalkeeper coach right now,” said Nicht. “We still have time in the hotel tonight, so all of us goalkeepers get as much input as possible.”

Playing in front of a back line that you’re not completely on the same page with is not easy, but centerback Bakary Soumare downplayed the notion that the Impact would struggle without Bush in goal. Soumare also said that the club was not thinking too much about who was standing in net, but rather focusing on the task at hand.

Bush put a little more emphasis on the topic of who fills in for him, stating that it needed to be someone who was experienced enough to handle the rigors and challenges that come from playing in a championship game.

“The biggest part of it is not who’s the best goalkeeper, it’s who can handle the moment the best,” said Bush. “It’s 60,000 people, it’s a Champions League final. There’s more to it than just catching balls, kicking balls and those sorts of things that you do in training. You have to be able to hand the pressures of the moment, and it’s the biggest moment for whoever steps into that position.

“I think whoever does will be mentally ready, physically ready, and everyone will have their back.”

If that did not sound enough like a vote of confidence for Nicht, Bush also name-dropped the German goalkeeper when trying to answer a question about the Impact’s glut of goalkeepers.

“Kristian coming in is certainly a good thing for us,” said Bush. “We have four goalkeepers on the roster now, and there’s going to be some movement at some point I’d imagine, but that’s not something that we’re worrying about right now.

“We’re worrying about tomorrow night. Everybody is getting behind Kristian, and we’ll move forward from there.”