Indonesia's Asian Cup curfew-breaker carpeted

JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) Cheeky Indonesia striker Zaenal Arif has apologised for breaking an Asian Cup curfew and admitted he was out much later than first thought.

Zaenal was dropped from the Indonesia squad days before their crunch Group D clash with South Korea after telling coach Ivan Kolev he had broken a 10 p.m. curfew by an hour.

Indonesia lost the game 1-0 and were dumped out of the tournament.

''I lied when I said I was in my room by 11 p.m.,'' he told a disciplinary hearing.

''The truth was I came back to the hotel at 2:30 a.m.'' Zaenal had also handed over a cash bonus he received from the country's soccer association, Indonesian news agency Antara reported.

The player is expected to learn his fate later today.

REUTERS BJR DS1215