PAULETA recorded a hat trick and Rui Costa came off the bench to pick up a goal as Portugal cruised to a 4-0 rout of Poland in a Group D match.

The result sets up an intriguing clash for the Protugese against South Korea on June 14 in the final set of games, when the USA also face the Poles.

The Bordeaux striker became the first Portuguese player to collect a hat trick in a World Cup match since 1966, when legendary forward Eusebio scored four goals in a quarter-final win over North Korea.

On a pitch drenched by a torrential downpour during the match, Pauleta completed the hat trick in the 77th minute.

After gathering the ball at the edge of the area, Pauleta weaved to his right and then his left to gain a yard on the Polish defender before smacking the ball off the fingertips of goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek.

Dropped from the starting lineup after a disappointing performance in Portugal's shocking loss to the United States, Rui Costa replaced Joao Pinto in the 60th minute and promptly set up Pauleta's third goal and capped the scoring with two minutes left.

Pawel Kryszalowicz epitomized Poland's performance, firing a shot over a wide-open net with seven minutes left. Coach Jerzy Engel's side, which has yet to score at the 2002 World Cup, became the first Polish team to fail to advance from the first round in six attempts.

Full-time: Poland...0 Portugal...4

Goal scoring:

Portugal - Pedro Miguel Pauleta in the 14th minute

Pedro Miguel Pauleta in the 65th minute

Pedro Miguel Pauleta in the 77th minute

Manuel Rui Costa in the 87th minute

Poland - none

Bookings:

Portugal - Nuno Frechaut in the 25th minute

Jorge Costa in the 27th minute

Rui Jorge in the 31st minute

Poland - Piotr Swierczewski in the 21st minute

Arkadiusz Bak in the 39th minute

Referee: H Dallas

Att. 31,000