TORONTO

Greg Vanney is “one-seventh” of the way to achieving his goal.

Seven road matches. Twenty-one points.

So what if Toronto FC’s bench boss set that target this week with a sarcastic grin?

Deep down, the Reds are aiming to return from their seven-game trip with a perfect record.

“We haven’t set a goal,” Vanney added. “I don’t want to put that mindset into our guys.”

Following last Saturday’s come-from-behind win in Vancouver, the probability of a 7-0-0 start has been upgraded from impossible to unlikely.

The win was enough to convince oddsmakers over at Bovada to up TFC’s MLS Cup chances to 12-to-1.

“We haven’t won anything,” said TFC’s Jozy Altidore, who was named the league’s player of the week for his two-goal performance at BC Place. “Nothing is decided now. We’re a new group of guys.

“We hope to build on that in Columbus and take it one game at a time.”

The Reds will charter to Columbus on Friday morning having not lost to the Central Ohio outfit in three straight tries. Close to 500 travelling TFC fans are expected to converge on Mapfre Stadium, as well.

“We’ll get at least one look at Columbus, so we’ll prepare,” Vanney said of the Crew’s 1-0 loss in Houston on Saturday. “We have a decent sense of who they are as a team.

“They’re a team that thrives on possession. They space you out and play in-between the lines.”

The Crew have made some additions since the Reds swept the series last season.

Fullback Hernan Grana was added during the off-season to help shore things up at the back while former Sporting KC standout Kei Kamara joins Icelandic midfielder Kristinn Steindorsson up front.

The same man, however, continues to make the all yellow tick.

“We don’t want them to get (Federico) Higuain on the ball,” Vanney said. “We’ll have to manage space better than we did last weekend. We need to have possession. We need to limit the number of attacks they have.”

Weather could play a factor on Saturday, with cool temperatures and rain in the forecast.

Toronto FC’s players had trouble adapting to the turf during the first half at BC Place last weekend and could run into a few issues when switching to the natural grass surface in Columbus.

“You don’t know until you get there,” Vanney said. “We’ll have a training session Friday. We’ll know the climate come Saturday.”

All part of the hardships of playing on the road for the first two months of the season.

“I’d rather have it at the beginning (of the season) than the end,” Vanney said.

As of now, the Reds are but a fraction of the way through the toughest road stretch in club history.

MLS LOOKING TO EXPAND — AGAIN

Commissioner Don Garber says MLS is looking to expand — again.

New York City FC and Orlando City SC joined MLS this season.

Atlanta and Los Angeles FC will join the league in 2017.

And during Sunday’s MLS broadcast on ESPN, Garber announced the league plans to make more expansion plans known within the next two months.

“We’re focused on Miami,” Garber said. “We think it represents everything in terms of excitement, diversity and passion in our country. We want to see something happen there.”

Garber added David Beckham — the would-be owner — has yet to solidify stadium plans in South Beach, a prerequisite to the former L.A. Galaxy star receiving a franchise.

St. Louis, Sacramento and San Antonio are all said to be in the running, with Minnesota — led by a group backed by the NASL’s Minnesota United, Twins and T-Wolves — the current favourite to land what would be the league’s 23rd franchise.

It’s unclear how many teams MLS will add during this round of expansion.

“We’ve got to go about it carefully,” Garber said. “We have to think about putting a plan together that will allow us to capture this enormous momentum.”

YANKEES WHINING ABOUT STADIUM USE

It turns out Toronto FC is the only North American team with shared-venue concerns.

The New York Yankees fear New York City FC will do a number on their natural surface.

Ahead of NYCFC’s inaugural home match at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, multiple ballplayers spoke out against the MLS expansion side moving into their digs.

“It’ll definitely cause an issue, but it’s nothing that we can control, so we can’t worry about it,” Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s terrible for a field.”

The 34-year-old, two-time all-star added: “Everything gets messed up” when the stadium is used for anything other than Major League Baseball.

Left fielder Brett Gardner is already thinking about potential injuries.

“Problem is the root system,” he told the Journal. “After you put new grass down, there’s no root system, so essentially you’re running full speed on top of AstroTurf that’s sitting on top of cement.

“And that grass will give way and you blow something out—knee, ankle.”

New York City FC — which is partially owned by the Yankees — will open its inaugural home slate against New England this weekend.

Thirty thousand tickets have already been sold for the game.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, Toronto FC supporters are concerned the CFL’s Argonauts will destroy BMO Field if gridiron becomes a weekend fixture at TFC’s renovated stadium.