Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. (Duif du Toit, Gallo Images)

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Port Elizabeth - International match agents have slammed the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) and in a hard-hitting statement questioned its ability to host 2010 World Cup matches while accusing the Port Elizabeth body of being "totally incapable of urgent decision-making and resolving crisis situations.

This follows the fiasco surrounding the Eastern Cape Soccer Challenge, a competition which started at the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium on Tuesday involving teams from Russia and Slovakia and local clubs Bay United and Jomo Cosmos.

An average of 50 spectators attended the two days of the tournament as the four-team tournament got off to a rocky start when SK Austria Karnten pulled out at the last minute and was replaced Slovakia's MFK Kosice.

Other teams in the tournament were Russia's FC Moscow, National First Division outfit Jomo Cosmos and local PSL team Bay United.

The tournament was organised by SA GA Sport Service and sponsored by the Port Elizabeth municipality, the Tourism Board and the provincial government.

According to a press release issued jointly by Uefa match agents Hannes Empl (Austria), Viacheslav Protsenko (Russia) and the director of Olympic Sports Management Mikhail Gerschovich (Russia) the European teams were locked out of their hotels because they were not paid by the organisers who had "mismanaged money which was transferred to GA Sport Service account by the government".

Empl, Protensko and Gerschovich say they had to intervene and pay the hotels and transportations costs with their personal funds.

They say attempts to meet with the mayor were fruitless as she was busy "with an election campaign and could not find the time to address the problem - regardless of the fact that the local government officials were aware that the Uefa Cup clubs were threatened to be "thrown out in the street in Port Elizabeth at any time."

The trio of visiting officials say they are desperate and will report the matter to Fifa president Sepp Blatter, Uefa and Fifa's legal services, as well as the international media.