7 May 2007, by Sean Gillen

Meira strikes as Stuttgart keep up title chase

VFB Stuttgart 2-0 FVS Mainz

Fernando Meira was on the scoresheet as Stuttgart kept up the pressure on Bundesliga leaders Schalke with a comfortable home win over Mainz at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion.

The Portuguese defender captained his side to their sixth consecutive league victory, leaving them just one point behind Schalke with two games of the German season left to play.

Meira showed a glimpse of his quality early on, striding out of defence with the ball before feeding a pass through to Sami Khedira, who slipped Cacau in on goal, but the Brazilian fired straight at Christian Wetklo.

The former Benfica defender scored his third goal of the season after twenty-five minutes. A corner fell to Meira on the edge of the area and the Portuguese international showed great composure to shift the ball onto his right foot, before passing it into the bottom left corner.

Just five minutes later and Meira’s afternoon took a somewhat sour turn. His sloppy ball out of defence gave away possession and Meira was forced to tug back Mohammed Zidan to stop the Egyptian from registering an effort on goal. The result was a yellow card that will see Meira miss next week’s match at Bochum.

Meira almost completed an eventful afternoon by scoring an own goal in the second half. The 28-year-old attempted to volley away a long ball into the Stuttgart area, but he badly sliced his kick and was relieved to watch the ball fly narrowly past the post.

Roberto Hilbert sealed the win for the home side halfway through the second half. Substitute Antonio da Silva found Hilbert with a clever throughball, and the newly-capped German international rounded Wetklo before slipping the ball into the net.

After the match, Meira told reporters: “We’ve always said we want the maximum amount of success. Now we have the opportunity to achieve something but we will have to give our all to beat Bochum.”

“I can’t play myself but Serdar (Tasci) will do a good job covering for me. The first goal was important for us and I dedicate it to my son. He didn't think I could ever score at home.”

Stuttgart:
Hildebrand, Osorio, Meira, Pardo, Delpierre (Tasci, 86), Magnin, Hitzlsperger, Hilbert, Khedira, Lauth (da Silva, 58), Cacau (Streller, 83)
Yellow Cards: Meira (31), Magnin (35)

Mainz:
Wetklo, Cha, Noveski, Andreasen, Friedrich, Weigelt (Rose, 34), Gerber, Azaouagh (Ruman, 54), Pekovic, Soto (Jovanovic, 70), Zidan
Yellow Cards: Andreasen (37), Pekovic (37), Wetklo (77)

Goals:
[1-0] Meira, 26
[2-0] Hilbert, 65