Keepin' It Real: Dema

Showing posts with label Dema. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Practice Update: Aug 26, 2008

A few thoughts on Will Johnson:

He is pretty intense and competitive in practice
I saw a couple of great strikes from him
He seems to have very good foot skills and is comfortable with the ball on his feet
I can really see him playing out wide and doing well
He is a little bit slight of build, but I understand he is quite strong on the ball
Will not be a great aerial threat.

A couple of other notes:

Practice was light on conditioning/fitness and heavy on working on certain aspects of the game
Dema/Beltran/Ian all competed in the initial segment of short passing in a team format
Dema spent most of rest of practice icing down his shin
Ian spent most of the rest of practice jogging
Tony played in one more segment before coming out of the regular practice session

Friday, June 6, 2008

Photos from Practice at Rice Eccles: Friday June 6, 2008

Practice at Rice Eccles Stadium looked great today. The team chemistry seems to be getting better all the time. Everyone seemed loose as plenty of friendly/competitive banter among the players was included during play. Dema showed no signs of being sick, he was as feisty as ever. Espindola was nowhere to be seen, so look for a Deuchar-Findley tandem tomorrow. The reserve players practiced a little longer than the rest of the team (this included Mantilla). Olave appears to be starting next to Borchers again. Everything else looks to stay the same for Saturday. I'm not really expecting any surprises considering our success at home so far. Hope to see you at the game!

Enjoy-

(Left) Beckerman controls, "Pirate Style" (Right) Andy Williams practices his free kicks

(Left) Mantilla joins in after his electric-shock treatment (Right) Chris Wingert on the move

(Left) Will we see more of Cordoba? (Right) Dema lays an egg. Andy finds it rather amusing.

(Left) Nunez shows Borchers how to dance (Right) Chris is still on the move

(Left) Dema thinks about doing the "Crazy Ivan" (Right) Beltran and Kirby try for a block

(Left) Brennan's next performace will be at Ballet West (Right) Morales has six assists so far this season. He's tied for first in MLS.

Cordoba makes his move on Kirby

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Player Profile: Dema Kovalenko

Dema Kovalenko

Position: Midfielder
Date of Birth: Aug 28, 1977 (30)
Place of Birth: Kiev, Ukraine
Height: 5 ft 8 in
Weight: 177
Previous Clubs: New York Red Bulls, FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhya, DC United, FC St. Pauli, Chicago Fire
National Team Exp: none
Jersey Number: #21
Current Status: Senior Roster
How Acquired: trade with NYRB

Personal summary: Born in Ukraine. Emigrated to the US in 1992. Played soccer at the University of Indiana. Dema is known for his fiery personality and has been loved by the fans for every team he has played for. In 2008, he became a US citizen.

Professional summary/highlights: Originally allocated to the Dallas Burn, but let the league know that he wanted to play for Chicago, and the league made that happen. Started out as a forward before moving to attacking midfielder. Most known for two tackles involving broken legs. In his rookie season, he made a dangerous tackle on burn defender, Brandon Pollard and broke his leg which ended his career. Dema was traded to DC United in 2002 for Justin Mapp. In 2003, Dema made another tackle on a player, Ronnie O’Brien, resulting in a broken leg. Dema played a key role for DC for several years before reaching a contract dispute and leaving for Ukraine for a year in 2006. He came back in late 2006 with the Red Bulls playing a bit more of a role player with the team.

Webpages/Myspace/Facebook:

Youtube/video links:

Other links: MLS Player profile: Dema Kovalenko/MLSnet, Wikipedia Page: Dema Kovalenko/Wiki

Keepin It Real Expectations for 2008: In a number of ways, the trade for Dema didn’t seem like a good fit for RSL. We already had a seemingly full midfield at the time. However, my impression of Dema is that he is a guy who just finds a way to contribute, and will play a valuable role for this team. Maybe not a full time starter, but he will see plenty of time on the field.

Fans Scorecard Ratings: Kovalenko Rating

Interesting Fact/tidbits/quote: Played briefly for FC St. Pauli, the same team that Ian Joy came from.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

PRACTICE AT XANGO FIELD: MARCH 18, 2008

Practice today was a little more fun. Tuesday was mostly fitness. Today was just a full field scrimmage for 90 minutes. Here are a couple of noteworthies:

Same crew as Tuesday with the addition of Dema, and a keeper named Brandon who I believe is from BYU.

They worked more on offense, and spent some time practicing set pieces. For one team it was Andy and Cordoba taking the kicks. For the other team it was Morales and Alex Nimo. During the scrimmage, Horst had a sweet header for a goal.

I was impressed with: Beltran, Reiman, Nunez and Yura. (partly because they were on my side of the field)

Other news: it's up-in-the-air questionable if Deuchar's work permit will come through in time to get him here for opening day.

Also, Manning hiring came as a result of SCP using a professional executive search firm. This does not appear to be a case of cronyism.

A few pics below (more at http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg45/realslfan/RSL_practice_0318/)