TORONTO

He paused midway through Wednesday’s conversation.

“I want to take a step back,” Joe Bendik remarked.

After a full season of watching his club be dragged through the mud, Toronto FC’s first-choice ’keeper briefly basked at the mere mention of TFC being built for a playoff run.

“That’s funny you say that,” Bendik continued. “Reporters’ voices have changed to where that’s actually an attainable goal now.”

To most, it’s an expectation.

After TFC dolled out a dump truck full of cash this off-season, many are talking MLS Cup.

“I was amazed,” Bendik said of TFC’s off-season transforamation, one that saw the likes of Jermain Defoe, Gilberto and Michael Bradley saunter through the door.

“I think the front office did an incredible job. But with all that done it doesn’t mean much right now. We just have to get off to a good start this season. Hopefully turn all those acquisitions into wins.”

This time last year reporters weren’t pursuing Bendik — or the Reds for that matter.

After the Reds acquired the former U.S. youth international from Portland, most assumed the 24-year-old would serve as Stefan Frei’s backup.

Not Bendik.

“I knew last year that there was an opportunity,” he told the Toronto Sun over the phone on Wednesday.

“It was kind of a blessing in disguise when I was traded to Toronto because I was going into a situation with Stef having injuries.”

After Frei, who has since been traded to the Seattle Sounders, shattered his nose during the first half of the first pre-season game last year, it was Bendik’s job to lose.

“Trying to battle with Donovan Ricketts in Portland wasn’t working well,” Bendik said. “I knew I was going into a position where I could take the No. 1 at TFC. Now, I know I’m the No. 1, but I have to compete the same way.”

Aside from team goals — we’ve talked about those enough this off-season — Bendik’s eyeing the same plaudits his predecessor earned a few years back.

TFC’s lacklustre form in 2013 masked what might have been the second-best season (behind Frei in 2011) ever recorded by a TFC ’keeper.

Along with team success come individual accolades, talk Bendik doesn’t shy away from.

“Last year my goal was to start and play in every game and I was the person who kept me from completing that,” he said. “This year, (my goal) is to start every single game and ... to have a little more recognition. In order to have that you need team success.”

Talk too much about the club’s back four and Bendik’s quick to straighten you out.

“I’m more looking forward to the attacking side of things,” he said. “The best goalkeepers have a good defence in front of them, but the main thing they have is a good offence.”

As demonstrated above, Bendik’s not afraid to speak up when not spoken to.

Or to correct a reporter who’s going down the wrong route.

“I always want to be myself, especially in the locker room,” he said.

Six months ago, he tweeted out an entertaining photo of himself and teammates in Fourth of July garb.

He threw out the first pitch at a Jays game a few months before.

“A lot of fans only see the player on the field,” Bendik explained. “They don’t get to see the player personally without a TFC jersey on. It’s important for the core group of guys to have that mentality and be positive.”

Especially when the team is two months out from the most anticipated season of some of their lives.

The Reds open in Seattle on March 15, a match with so many storylines that it promises to be one of the most-watched TFC matches in recent memory.

“It’s a blockbuster, really,” Bendik said. “It’s a testament to the league over the last few years that now we’re matching up players that five years ago we wouldn’t have seen in this league.

“It’s a competition and it’s going to be a wild game.”

TFC GETS FARM CLUB

Toronto FC announced the Wilmington (N.C.) Hammerheads as its first USL affiliate on Wednesday.

The American third-tier side will receive a minimum of four Toronto FC reserve players this season during the one-year partnership.

As a result, TFC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko announced the club won’t feature in this year’s MLS reserve league.

“We are very excited to partner with Wilmington Hammerheads FC and continue to enhance the development of professional footballers in North America,” Bezbatchenko said. “This partnership with Wilmington will allow our players to earn those valuable match minutes and continue their growth during the season in a professional environment.”

As part of the deal, Wilmington coaches will attend Toronto FC’s pre-season in Florida next month.

“The affiliation announcement with Toronto FC is a monumental day for Wilmington Hammerheads FC and the city of Wilmington,” Wilmington Hammerheads GM Jason Arnold said. “Having an exclusive affiliation with a Major League Soccer club will impact our club in such a positive way and bring new opportunities to us both on and off the field.”

The two clubs will work collaboratively to determine which TFC reserves will be sent south on loan stints. Toronto players sent to Wilmington will be guaranteed playing time.

The USL club will also be granted access to TFC’s coaching curriculum and an MLS club’s professional environment, including a business relationship.