Topic: Dema Kovalenko

Dmytro "Dema" Kovalenko (Ukrainian: Дмитро (Діма) Коваленко) (born August 28, 1977 in Kiev) is a Ukrainian soccer player who currently plays for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.

Kovalenko emigrated to the United States in 1992. He graduated from Greece Arcadia High School in Rochester, New York in 1996, and played three years of college soccer at Indiana University from 1996 to 1998, where he helped the Hoosiers win a national championship in 1998, and was named an NCAA first team All-American in the same year.

Upon joining the league, Kovalenko was originally allocated to the Dallas Burn, but the league complied with his demands to play for the Chicago Fire, engineering a trade to the team in exchange for draft picks. Kovalenko appeared infrequently in his rookie year, playing only 291 minutes in 11 games, but managed to score three goals for the team. Kovalenko made an impact another way, breaking the leg, and effectively ending the career, of Burn defender Brandon Pollard with a dangerous tackle.