Ecuador are to lodge a protest after five of their players were stuck in a hotel lift in the Brazilian city of Manaus, where they face the five-times world champions in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

The incident happened during a power cut in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Ecuadorean Football Federation (FEF) said on its official website.

"Five Ecuadorean players went through moments of panic when they were trapped in the hotel lift at the Taj Mahal hotel in Manaus, where the delegation is staying," said the FEF.

It named the players as Giovanni Espinoza, Edison Mendez, Kleber Chala, Carlos Tenorio and Otilino Tenorio.

"The players were extremely upset about this bad experience," it added.

"The power cut affected a large part of the city of Manaus at first, but then curiously was only in the Taj Mahal," the FEF added.

"A lot of players had to walk up 11 floors of stairs which could have caused an injury."

The FEF said the problem was aggravated by the heat and humidity of Manaus, a city located in the heart of the Amazon rain forest.

The FEF said it would protest the to South American Football Confederation (CSF) and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

Ecuador and Brazil both won their opening matches in the South American World Cup qualifying group, which started at the weekend and continues until October 2005 with 18 rounds of matches.

Ecuador, who beat Brazil for the first time during qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, defeated Venezuela 2-0 and Brazil won 2-1 in Colombia.

Brazil boycotted the media conference after their match in Barranquilla in a row over advertising hoardings and complained the water was cut off in their changing rooms, preventing half the team from taking a shower.

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