Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari claims his team will only hit their full stride in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Scolari has decided to rest all five of his players who have received a yellow card for today's final Group D fixture with Mexico as Portugal are already through to the last 16.

The game, however, is not a dead rubber as the Mexicans could still be denied the second qualification spot from the group by Angola.

Scolari feels his players have shown some improvement but believes they will only reach full capacity in the last 16 when they will face Holland or Argentina.

Scolari said: "In the first game (a 1-0 win over Angola) the players were a little nervous.

"In the second game (a 2-0 win over Iran) we played better and produced a much better performance.

"We reached the objective, which was to qualify for the second phase, and now we must prepare fully for the knockout stages."

That means that Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Pedro Pauleta, Nuno Valente and Costinha will all miss the match at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen.

"The only changes will be the five players who are on a yellow card," Scolari said.

"They won't play one minute of the match even if Mexico are winning 30-0."

However, Scolari insists his team has been biding their time for the knockout stages.

"We are growing as the tournament goes on which is what I planned for," said Scolari. "For the following round we need to take our game to a new level.

"We need to step things up and pick up even more confidence."

Scolari insisted he still felt his under-strength team could beat the Mexicans.

"I imagine Mr (Mexico coach Ricardo) Lavolpe will make some changes and I don't know what they are yet," said Scolari.

"But we will just try and play our own game and beat them and get a win as we have in our last two matches."

FIFA statistics show that Portugal's players have been fouled more than any other team over the first two matches.

Scolari, who led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 where they lost to Greece, admitted: "It's been hard for players like Ronaldo and (Luis) Figo.

"I am concerned because FIFA have told the referees they must punish foul play - we have five silly bookings but our opponents are not being punished for their fouls.

"Mexico will be different to Iran - they are a fast and attacking team and we must try and stop them."

Asked about criticism of Portugal's safety-first approach in qualifying, Scolari said: "I don't want to comment. We have qualified."