The North American Soccer League took a step towards stability with the hiring of an independent commissioner on Monday.David Downs will take over as the head domo of the second-division league on April 4.Downs has 30 years of broadcast experience as an executive with ABC Sports and Univision Communications. He negotiated U.S. broadcast rights for World Cups from USA ’94 to Brazil 2014. He was also the head of the U.S. bid committee for the 2022 World Cup, which lost out to Qatar in the voting.

MLS confirmed that Manchester United, which thrashed the MLS All-Stars last season, will be back for more.Manchester United will provide the opposition for the All-Stars July 27 at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, a year after the Red Devils dominated the best in MLS in Houston.But, will the game resonate with Canadian fans? That’s up for debate.

Javier Morales’ performance was judged to be superior to that of Javier Martina.The Real Salt Lake midfielder was named the MLS player of the week by the North American Soccer Reporters on Monday. Morales scored twice and set up another goal as RSL decimated the Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1, only adding to Rio Tinto’s reputation as being the toughest place for a road team to go in all of North American pro sports.

FC Edmonton announced that it has signed Sam Lam, the former University of Alberta standout — and brother of Matt Lam, who returned to Japan this weekend to resume training with JEF United.Sam Lam spent the winter with the Edmonton Drillers of the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League. He was an FCE target — in fact, he was encouraged by FCE to play in the CMISL this season, as he retained his eligibility as an amateur.