It's not often you consider a 1-0 loss a win, but that's exactly how I feel after watching the Westfield Matildas' stellar Women's World Cup opening match against football powerhouse Brazil.

Since the moment Australia was drawn in the same group as Brazil, which are ranked third in the world and which boast the undisputed best female footballer in the world (five consecutive awards saying so don't lie), all talk has been about how on earth we David could possibly compete with this footballing Goliath.

Even people who know little about football know that Brazil is a heavy-hitter in the world game, and brows furrowed when they found out the Matildas were set to not only play Brazil, but to do so for the first match of their campaign. Interview questions have concentrated on how—short of subbing on a 12th player solely to mark her and tip the odds in their favour—the Matildas might contain Marta.

In short: few people believed the Matildas could take Brazil.

Adding to the doubt was the relative youth and inexperience of the Matildas' squad. Speculation was that the third youngest squad in the tournament would be overawed, intimidated by, or prone to nervousness-inspired mistake. It wasn't whether they would lose to Brazil—it was how much by.

Truth be told, though I trust Tom Sermanni's judgement implicitly, even I was a little nervous when he named a starting line-up that included seven World Cup debutants of which two were the youngest of the young, and of which one was tasked with marking Marta. It was a bold decision, and one that history would cast as either pure madness or pure genius.

It was the latter. It was the latter by a long shot. The Matildas might have come away without a win or even a point, but anyone who watched that match would vouch that they were incredibly unlucky not to do so.

When asked yesterday about Brazil for what was quite possibly the seven billionth time, Tom Sermanni quipped 'Well, they're not very good, are they?' It earned plenty of chuckles from the press conference, but in the first half of the match tonight, the Matildas made them look not very good. Or not nearly as good as you'd expect.

The Matildas retained a whopping 60 per cent of possession in the first half and kept Marta altogether fairly quiet. Lisa De Vanna gave the Brazilians grief, both up front and when she tracked back to help defend. Kyah Simon had a cracking, on-target shot that was at the last second plucked out of the air by the Brazilians' deft keeper. But the traffic was all Matildas, and the sense was that a goal was just around the corner.

I kind of wish they hadn't had a half-time break.

Brazil pushed forward from the start of the second half, and although the Matildas were still playing well, they weren't quite as switched on as they were in the first 45. The lone goal they conceded was in the 54th minute. Although it was a great shot and hit right in the sweet spot, it came only after a combination of a lapse in communication, concentration, and sense of clear-the-line urgency surrounding the bobbling ball.

The goal was particularly cruel in light of the Matildas' domination and aplomb, and kind of made you wish the beautiful game was determined by more than getting the ball across the line once in a split-second frenzy.

But how the Matildas played the game is definitely worth noting and celebrating. They were nothing short of outstanding and clearly answered critics' concerns that the young players were too inexperienced and too prone to being overawed to perform. I'm pretty sure that the rest of the teams in the competition will also be taking note—Asian Champions Australia are fast approaching world class.

Even better, they demonstrated their trademark never-say-die attitude right down to the final whistle, which came after a particularly thrilling corner which saw the ball deflected in the box about three times and would have, had there not been 21 bodies in that very box, quite possibly seen them score.

So while the players are understandably gutted, we fans and media are absolutely pumped. That was, hands down, the best we've ever seen the Matildas play. They might have narrowly lost, but I very much consider that match a win.

Fiona Crawford is the Girls FC online/content editor (www.facebook.com/girlsfc and @FFAGirlsFC and @TheMatildas)