By FRANCO PANIZO

MONTREAL — If Club America prevails on Wednesday night, MLS fans in the United States and Canada will be left with disappointment.

There would be a silver lining for U.S. Men’s National Team supporters, though.

The Montreal Impact will collide with Club America at Olympic Stadium in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League finals series, and the match will be historic if the MLS club comes out on top. No team in the league has ever won this regional crown, a damning fact that many involved with MLS are hoping becomes extinct on Wednesday.

One American who is not keen on seeing that happen is Alvarado, the 22-year-old Club America centerback who recently pledged his international allegiance to the U.S. over Mexico. Alvarado wants to help his side come out on top after missing last week’s 1-1 draw at the soccer cathedral that is Estadio Azteca due to yellow card accumulation, and doing so would put him in select company.

Jose Torres is currently the only U.S. Men’s National Team player to have ever won the CONCACAF Champions League after doing so with Pachuca in 2010, and he and Herculez Gomez make up the party of two that has ever seen time in the annual FIFA Club World Cup.

Alvarado would knock the first off his list with a win on Wednesday night and would be poised to accomplish the second this winter, two things he’s looking to do as he continues to rise in the world of soccer.

“Keep building my career up,” said Alvarado when asked what winning the Champions League would mean to him. “I’ve (only) recently been playing. It hasn’t been that long that I started my career, so it will be building up more.”

It would also cap off a remarkable month for Alvarado. He earned his first two caps for the U.S. in a pair of friendlies in late March, and then made his first start at the international level in the 2-0 victory over Mexico on April 15.

Alvarado has drawn positive reviews for his play in those matches under U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann, much in the same way that the 6-foot defender has since become a more regular contributor for Club America during the 2014-15 Apertura campaign.

Alvarado saw sporadic minutes from August through November last year, but began to see more consistent playing time in December. He made four straight starts to close out 2014, and then impressed new Club America manager Gustavo Matosas en route to earning seven more during the current Clausura season.

The Phoenix, Arizona native has also chipped in to the club’s Champions League run along the way with six starts. Now, he’s on the cusp of CONCACAF glory.

“If you go over (to the Club World Cup and play) big teams, you’re going to make history over there,” said Alvarado. “It’s something that marks you.”

Alvarado might already be on the map as far as the U.S. and Mexico go, but he could certainly draw more attention to himself with a solid outing on Wednesday night. He is facing the challenge of a short turnaround after starting in Sunday’s Liga MX even encounter with rivals Chivas de Guadalajara, but Alvarado said Tuesday that he is feeling fresh and is motivated to further boost his blossoming career.

Still, Alvarado knows from watching the first leg that Montreal will not make things easy.

“The Impact, they play pretty good,” said Alvarado. “They did a lot of damage over there in Mexico, and we’re going to work hard. We’re going to look (to win) the match.”

While also trying to accomplish something that few other U.S. players have done before.