Chengdu Blades coach Don O'Riordan will play an active role as China's women's national team prepare for their 2008 Beijing Olympic Games campaign, which gets underway next month.

The Chinese Football Association contacted O'Riordan about taking up a coaching position and he observed training last week, before having some input into the coaching practices:

Speaking of his involvement, O'Riordan said: "I came here last Friday to watch training and take in the two matches against Australia. Following this I gave the team some advice and took a training session to get my points across.

Chengdu Blades already have representation within the Olympic squad, in the shape of fitness coach Mark Laws and O'Riordan has nothing but praise for the physical condition of the team:

"Mark was already here with the team and he has done very well getting the girls fit and we thank Head Coach Shang for letting us implement our training methods.

"I feel very proud that the CFA would like Mark and myself to help the team and we have been accepted so warmly by everyone."