Does the Chinese Steel Roses still need Pu Wei?

The answer is absolutely Yes. The 28-year-old midfielder returned from her retirement of soccer for the third time after Chinese women's soccer team's coach Shang Ruihua called her up in May.

"When the national team needs me, I have the strong impetus to come back," the veteran player told Xinhua.

For a female soccer player, 28-year-old is obviously over the hill, but coach Shang said Pu's experience could greatly boost the team's performance at the Beijing Olympics.

"Pu's comeback could strengthen our defense," Shang said.

"I had an eight-month rest before I came back," Pu said. "So I have been working hard to improve fitness to meet high demand of Olympic competition."

Born in Shanghai, Pu joined the senior national squad 11 years ago when she was just 17 and scored her first World Cup goal in 1999.

As a young talent of the Steel Roses in the golden years of the 1990s, she had been fighting together with former star striker Sun Wen and brought the country a bunch of glories, including the runners-up in the 1999 World Cup.

However, she has retired three times from the national team in the past five years. Seemingly, she chose to do so every time she finished an important tournament, such as World Cup or Olympics.

"I know sometimes my decisions are not rational enough." Pu said." But I have to respect my feelings and emotions."

Pu's first retirement was announced after 2003 World Cup in the United States, where her team was eliminated after losing 1-0 to underdogs Canada in the quarterfinals.

However, she returned from retirement after being called back by the national team a few months ahead of the 2004 Sydney Olympics.

Unfortunately, China was humiliated 8-0 by Germany in the opening match and failed to survive the group stage. The disappointed Pu decided to leave again.

Under coach Ma Liangxing's call-up, Pu came back again in 2006 and helped the team recapture the Asian Cup title it had conceded to Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) seven years ago.

In the 2007 World Cup, China was eliminated in the quarterfinals at home with a 1-0 defeat by Norway. As captain Pu was blamed for poor performance by one of her teammates, she vowed to retire from the national team for good.

But China's new coach Shang Ruihua managed to pull her back in May after promising to remove the team's internal dissension.

Taking the reins of the national team in April, the 64-year-old Shang shouldered a burden of reviving the declining Steel Roses and aimed to reach the last four at the upcoming Olympics.