Asmir Begovic is back on the radar of Canadian soccer fans. The former Canadian U-20 keeper, who in 2009 elected to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina, is now sponsoring a program to send disadvantaged kids to pro soccer games in his adopted hometown of Edmonton.

When Toronto FC and FC Edmonton meet April 27 in the first leg of their Nutrilite Canadian Championship semifinal series, fans will likely see 4-3-3 vs. 4-3-3. While FCE will be the heavy underdog, there will be similarities in the Dutch influenced style it plays with that of TFC. After all, FCE coach Harry Sinkgraven and TFC technical director and head coach Aron Winter were classmates when they went to get their coaching certificates.

FC Edmonton unveiled its new all-white road kits and its sponsor, Sears Financial, at a media event Thursday. A new blue home kit is still to come, and there are plans to work on a special third jersey. Toronto FC used its grey kit as a third jersey in Nutrilite Canadian Championship games last season. The Montreal Impact tried a pink jersey during NCC games.

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.

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.

The needs of television have outweighed the needs of Canada’s fledgling professional team. The Canadian Soccer Association and Rogers Sportsnet unveiled the broadcast schedule for the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, and the news was awful for FC Edmonton’s front office.

Matt Lam had just returned home from a training session when the earthquake struck. Even though Chiba, a suburb of Tokyo, was nearly 400 kilometres from the epicentre of the 9.0 temblor that triggered the tsunami that has claimed thousands of lives, the Canadian midfielder — and his mother, who was visiting at the time — they understood the gravity of the situation. “The whole building rocked back and forth,” said Lam, who is back in Edmonton, training on his own, after his club, JEF United, decided to send players home after the quake. “Even though we were 350, 400 kilometres from the epicentre, we could really feel the shake.”

FC Edmonton wrapped up its Arizona preseason schedule with a 5-0 win over a bunch of trialists looking for work with the PASL expansion club, the Phoenix Monsoon.

FC Edmonton added some Caribbean flavour to its lineup — and then hammered developmental side FC Tucson 6-1 Friday night in the NASL club’s second to last preseason tilt of its Arizona trip. The team has signed Trinidad and Tobago attacking midfielder Conrad Smith (who also goes by “Conrod Smith,” but he has informed the club he prefers “Conrad”), who most recently spent time with the Caribbean nation’s most famous club, Joe Public FC.

Dan Antoniuk has accepted FC Edmonton’s contract offer. The American striker, whose trial with FC Dallas was aborted when the MLS team managed to fill its roster before his tryout was set to begin, agreed Tuesday to join the NASL club for its inaugural season.