Toronto FC is unabashed when it comes to stating intentions.

Major League Soccer’s top team isn’t just chasing a return to MLS Cup later this year. The Reds are on a mission to complete the greatest season in league history.

“It’s something we’ve talked about in the last couple of weeks,” coach Greg Vanney told the Toronto Sun this week.

“We had a quick get-together to look at where we’ve positioned ourselves and identify the opportunities out in front of us.”

Ahead of Saturday’s anticipated trip to the Windy City, Toronto FC (13-3-8, 47 points) sits four points clear of New York City FC atop the MLS table.

The 1998 L.A. Galaxy’s record 68-point season is well within reach. The Reds would need to win seven of their final 10 regular-season games to match the Galaxy’s historic total.

Not that points tell the entire story.

Vanney started 27 games for the ’98 Galaxy and remembers playing for a team that wasn’t nearly as complete as TFC is two decades later.

“The 1998 team was a very free-flowing and attack-minded group with a lot of weapons in the attack and a lot of confidence in the attack,” Vanney added this week.

“If teams weren’t good on the day or weren’t one of the better teams in the league, we could unbalance them and we could score four or five or six or seven goals on the day.

“But when we ran into opposition that was organized and difficult to break down, our free-flowing nature got the best of us. I think we had a below-.500 record against top teams.”

By comparison, TFC is 7-2-4 this season against teams currently occupying a playoff position. That stat, though, is only a piece of the remarkable run that dates back to the beginning of last season.

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Toronto FC has lost just five of its previous 39 regular-season games dating back to last year. The club hasn’t dropped back-to-back games in 16 months.

“We’ve reassessed our goals to hopefully position ourselves as Supporters’ Shield winners and be in the discussion as one of the best teams ever to play in the league,” Vanney said.

“Every day is a new step in terms of training and every game is a new step in terms of trying to accumulate the points and perform at the level we have to in building towards the playoffs — the ultimate measure of things.”

Toronto FC also has a chance to eclipse — or at least match — the all-time MLS record for fewest losses (four) in a season, a feat most recently accomplished by FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake in 2010 (in a 30-game season).

“The group is aware of (those records),” Vanney said. “We don’t talk about it every day. What we talk about is trying to be the best version of us.”

What that means is up for discussion. Vanney thinks his Reds could — and maybe should — be in an even better position than they’re in.

Looking back, early season home draws against Atlanta and Sporting Kansas City were disappointing. A missed penalty in New York mid-season saw the Reds leave two more points behind at Red Bull Arena.

Though they’re unbeaten since a Canada Day defeat in Dallas, the Reds also left points on the board in recent draws against Colorado and D.C. United — two of the league’s worst teams.

“It’s at least eight or nine points we’ve left out there in various ways,” Vanney said. “I think we’ve left more than a handful out there. We could potentially be in a better place.

“Of the games we’ve lost, maybe one or two of them we deserved to lose. Maybe a tie here or there we had to fight to get the points. But, by and large, we’ve been in every game.”

And that, Vanney says, is something the ’98 Galaxy couldn’t claim.

“What’s different about (TFC now compared to the Galaxy then) is we have better balance between our attack and our defence,” Vanney explained.

“We’re more organized and have a better collective idea on both sides of the ball what we’re trying to do. Our roster is deeper.”

Vanney claimed earlier this year his side is the deepest team in the league’s 22-year history — a statement fewer and fewer pundits are finding ways to disagree with.

While the Reds are one of four teams that haven’t lost at home this season, they’re the only MLS team with a winning road record in 2017.

“Our team now has proven we can get results and beat anyone on any day and tend to do so more times than not,” Vanney said.

Toronto FC doesn’t just want to win everything left in front of them this season.

It wants to put together one of the best 34-game seasons the league has seen.

DOING IT WITH NORTH AMERICAN TALENT

Not only are the Reds looking to complete one of the best regular seasons in MLS history, they’re also reminding onlookers the club is doing it with a bunch of North American players.

Seven of TFC’s starters last weekend were North American. Five of its seven bench players were Canadian or U.S. citizens.

Compare that to the Portland Timbers, which started just one North American (U.S. international Darlington Nagbe).

“I think it’s a great story because it’s what the league should be looking at,” TFC coach Greg Vanney said.

“There should be some pride in that — that we have good enough players, and some are DPs, to put together an elite team.

“You tend to see teams using a lot of money on international players, but I think we have a good mix of North American players.”

Going back to last year’s MLS Cup, the Reds started eight North American players in the final compared to the Seattle Sounders’ three.

Toronto FC had 13 North Americans in its MLS Cup roster while the visitors — and eventual winners — had just seven.

“I think there’s a sense out there that in order to be a great team or elite team in this league you have to go out and get European players or South American players,” Vanney added.

“I’ve heard some commentators talk about how great teams are because they have all of these players from other countries.

“For us, we can be an elite team in which a large part of our group are North American players. If you look at our next five or six reserve guys sometimes they’re North American players.

klarson@postmedia.com

EYEING SOME RECORDS

MLS records Toronto FC is looking to match or break this year.

Fewest Losses In A Single Season

*Toronto FC’s current record is 13-3-8, with 10 games remaining

4-2005 San Jose Earthquakes

4-2010 FC Dallas

4-2010 Real Salt Lake

5-2001 Miami Fusion

5-2004 Columbus Crew

5-2008 Houston Dynamo

5-2011 LA Galaxy

5-2013 Portland Timbers

6-2001 Chicago Fire

6-2009 Los Angeles Galaxy

6-2012 San Jose Earthquakes

6-2016 Colorado Rapids

6-2016 LA Galaxy

Most Points In A Single Season

*Toronto FC currently on 47 points with 10 matches remaining

68-1998 LA Galaxy

67-2011 LA Galaxy

66-2012 San Jose Earthquakes

64-2005 San Jose Earthquakes

64-2014 Seattle Sounders FC

63-2011 Seattle Sounders FC

63-2012 Sporting Kansas City

61-2014 LA Galaxy

60-2015 FC Dallas

60-2015 New York Red Bulls

60-2016 FC Dallas

Most Points At Home In A Single Season

*Toronto FC currently 9-0-3 (30 points) at BMO Field, with five home games remaining