Jimmy Nielsen sets Sporting KC Franchise Shutout Record

With all the goals, cards and ejections from Sunday's Sporting Kansas City and Chivas USA match, an important event was being overlooked.

Club history was being made.

Jimmy Nielsen, who joined the team in 2010, recorded his 38th regular season clean sheet in the 4-0 win. The shutout moved him atop the club records, beating former United States national team keeper Tony Meola's record.

Nielsen is the 13th MLS keeper in history to record 38 shutouts, but he is the quickest to do so with only 104 matches. He also still has the lowest goal per game average in MLS history, averaging 1.00 goals against.

The record breaking shutout was Nielsen's sixth of the season which, surprise surprise, leads the league.

The MLS record belongs to Kevin Hartman, the former KC Wizards keeper, who has 111 shutouts in his career. Hartman had 22 shutouts as a Wizard, which is good for third in club history.

Nielsen, at 35, will likely add on to his record through the rest of this season. After that, who knows? Nielsen has hinted at retirement before and has implied that he may retire if Sporting KC wins the MLS Cup. Nielsen has been arguably the best keeper in club history, which is impressive given his predecessors.

Regardless, this is a very nice record to see broken by Nielsen and even more impressive that it only took 104 matches in less than four seasons to reach it.