He said it was possible that there could be a link between their absence and the team’s poor performance in the competition.
He added it should be explained in detail in the report prepared by the Harimau Malaya independent investigation body as the debacle led to Tan Cheng Hoe resigning as coach.
“Players who should be in the national team were not there. Were these players, like what Cheng Hoe said, injured or tired? The players this time were different and many (old faces) did not play. So, why were they absent?” Sathianathan, who is also the president of the Football Coaches Association of Malaysia, questioned.
“That’s what I want to know from this investigation so that we can all assess what caused the team to perform so badly. The players we were banking on were suddenly not there.”
Worryingly, the 53-year-old Cheng Hoe, resigned with Malaysia having just six months to prepare for the third round of the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers in June.
Sathianathan added that defenders Matthew Davies and La’Vere Corbin-Ong, as well as midfielders Nor Azam Azih and Syamer Kutty Abba were among those who could have strengthened the team.
“They were among the players who contributed significantly to the second round of the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers,” he said.
Apart from the four players, the AFF Cup squad did not include naturalised player Mohamadou Sumareh, goalkeeper Farizal Marlias, and numerous others, despite the fact they were fit and had sufficient playing time in the domestic league.
Sathianathan hoped this issue of “player absence” would not occur again, especially before the third round of the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers, and all coaches should be given the authority to select the players they require.
At the AFF Cup in Singapore, Malaysia, who were targeting a second consecutive final appearance and only named 24 players instead of the 30 allowed, failed to get past the group stage.
Following the failure, Cheng Hoe resigned from the post he had held since 2017. FAM deputy president Yusoff Mahadi has said that the candidate to replace Cheng Hoe would be decided after they receive the report from the independent investigation body.