Multiple Major League Soccer players have been barred from taking part in international fixtures this week because of concerns over Covid-19 quarantine rules, two clubs confirmed Monday. New York City FC and D.C. United said they had declined to release players selected for South American qualifiers and UEFA Nations League games after FIFA relaxed rules concerning the release of players. D.C. United were due to lose midfielders Edison Flores (Peru), Junior Moreno (Venezuela) and Yordy Reyna (Peru) on South American 2022 World Cup qualifying duty as well as Estonian forward Erik Sorga for games in Europe. New York City FC meanwhile said in a statement that Peruvian defender Alexander Callens would not be released. The club said it had also declined releases for Anton Tinnerholm (Sweden) and Maxime Chanot (Luxembourg) following discussions with each player's respective national federations. Clubs are usually obliged to release players for international duty under FIFA rules. However world football's governing body recently relaxed its regulations to allow clubs to decline player releases if it meant they would be required to undergo a quarantine period of five days or more upon their return. Local government policy in Washington D.C. requires individuals to self-quarantine for 14 days following their return from regions deemed to be "high-risk areas". Similar quarantine rules are in place in New York City. rcw/dmc