Kovalenko often attributed this to his well developed neck muscles that he said were created from doing hundreds of sets of Ukrainian neck-snaps daily prior to his soccer training.

Kovalenko made an impact another way, breaking the leg, and effectively ending the career, of Dallas Burn defender Brandon Pollard with a dangerous tackle.

Kovalenko would come into his own as a player in the 2000 season, scoring ten goals and five assists in 31 games for the Fire, as he helped the team to a U.S. Open Cup victory.

The next year, he was moved from a forward position to attacking midfield, but continued to catalyze the Fire offense, scoring eight goals and seven assists in 25 games.

The fiery Ukrainian's play in the beginning of the 2007 season had New York challenging in the Eastern Conference, however he was sidelined with injury and the team began to struggle.

On 14 January 2009, Salt Lake traded Kovalenko to Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for a draft pick and an undisclosed sum of allocation money.

[3] Kovalenko elected to participate in the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft and became a Major League Soccer free agent when he was not selected by any club.