It's not often that your grand final opponents are decided by drawing straws, but that's how the Matildas came to line up against host nation South Korea in the final of the Peace Queen Cup.

Firm favourites after having dispensed with Mexico and Chinese Taipei with 3-1 and 1-0 margins respectively, the Matildas had to then wait and see. Scoreless draws between South Korea, England, and New Zealand negated the ability to decide the top of Group A on goal difference. The result was the slightly unorthodox (although no doubt decreed somewhere within the internationally recognised footballing rules) drawing of straws.

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Something tells me the Matildas wish one England or New Zealand had drawn the 'short' straw. But given that not even a goal had been able to split the arguably tougher Group A, any one of the three was always going to bring them a hard match.

The 2-1 loss to South Korea, a team no doubt buoyed by a combination of home crowd support, the knowledge that they were getting a second bite at the Peace Queen Cup final apple, and a frustration that they had missed out on qualifying for the 2011 Women's World Cup (in part because of the Matildas' heroic snatching of the Asian Cup), was gutting for the Matildas. Not least because the two goals they conceded could and probably should have been saved.

But I have to say that I'm far from disappointed. With the Matildas' recent, thrilling Asian Cup victory, which saw them claim the cup 5-4 on penalties, it's easy to forget that this is a team going through a significant rebuilding phase. The current Matildas squad us extremely young and relatively inexperienced, especially in the absence of Cheryl Salisbury and Joey Peters, who've retired, and Heather Garriock, Sarah Walsh, and Lisa de Vanna, who are out injured.

That the Matildas won the Asian Cup, becoming the first Australian team of either gender to do so, and when they were simply taking the comp one experience-building game at a time, is massive. That they made it to the final of the Peace Queen Cup and lost by only a margin of one goal is huge. That the majority of these players are in such good form both on the eve of the W-League, which kicks off in two weeks, and in the months leading up to the Women's World Cup, bodes even better.

But before they return to our shores girt by sea, the Matildas are off to Germany. They're playing the world #1s and Women's World Cup hosts in preparation for the 16-nation finals next year. It'll be an even bigger test than South Korea for the 11th-ranked Matildas, but an invaluable dipping of the metaphorical football toe into the water pre-World Cup. What I'm most excited about, though, is that the ABC is coming to the women's football profile-raising party. The match will be broadcast at 3pm on ABC1 next Saturday.