Towards the end of Tunisia's World Cup opener against England on Monday, it appeared as though the Carthage Eagles were doing to snatch a point from the Three Lions despite themselves.
Coach Nabil Maaloul almost became the first manager of an African team to avoid defeat in this summer's tournament even though he opted not to lean on some of Tunisia's traditional qualities, but in the end, it was the neglecting of certain footballing basics that cost the North Africans a point.
On one hand, Tunisia and Maaloul must be admired for several reasons.
They largely bridged the significant gap in individual quality between the two collections of players until the 91st minute, and despite English frustrations, they weren't emphatically outplayed - registering just under 40 percent of the possession after a late slide.
Similarly, there were some bold and proactive decisions by Maaloul.
He opted to start Mouez Hassen ahead of Aymen Mathlouthi, who had captained Tunisia all through qualifying, and then turned to Farouk Ben Moustapha rather than the veteran Balbouli when the new boy got injured.
Perhaps Maaloul felt that Mathlouthi's ageing legs and unconvincing aerial presence at set pieces would have represented an area of weakness for Tunisia, but Ben Moustapha was a nervy and rash presence after coming.
He was fortunate that Jesse Lingard neither went down nor avoided the woodwork after tearing out to deny the Manchester United man in the second half, and was at fault for Harry Kane's late winner at his near post.
Hassen's departure with injury in the 15th minute means that there's not enough of a sample size to assess that initial decision; the goalkeeper both made a series of excellent saves and conceded Tunisia's opener before his withdrawal.
What was perhaps notable, however, was how open and exposed Tunisia were during those opening 20 minutes.
Would that have been the case had Mathlouthi, who has years of experience playing behind and organising that defensive unity, had been between the sticks rather than the unfamiliar Hassen?
The second bold decision was to opt to sacrifice one defensive midfielder and two of the team's most recognised midfield trio.
Maybe there were still lingering fitness concerns about one or both of Mohamed Ben Amine Amor and Ghaaylen Chaalali, but rather than replacing them with two defensively-minded players, Maaloul opted to bring in only Ellyes Skhiri.
The Montpellier man was asked to largely take sole responsibilities for ball-winning duties in the heart of the park, and it ought not have come as too much of a surprise that Tunisia were so overrun early on.
The midfield configuration certainly didn't play to Tunisia's key strength, while it also came to their detriment both defensively and offensively.
At the back, the centre-back pairing of Syam Ben Youssef and Yassine Meriah, were more exposed than they would have liked, and England registered three times as many shots as their opponents.
Paradoxically, however, removing one defensive midfielder had a bigger impact on Tunisia going forward.
With deep-lying playmaker Ferjani Sassi being serviced only by Skhiri, he saw less of the ball and enjoyed less protection than he would have liked.
Similarly, Naim Sliti and Anice Badri, who should have been operating higher up the pitch, were both drawn deeper in order to compensate for a reduced midfield presence. It meant that neither of the duo - both of whom had been potential danger-men ahead of kick off - came close to living up to the billing.
It was a similar story for Wahbi Khazri, chasing shadows for 85 minutes before being replaced, although Fakhreddine Ben Youssef did justify his inclusion with a trojan-like display as he hustled and harried relentlessly.
A primarily defensive approach wasn't unexpected from this Tunisia side - indeed, it was wise considering England's attacking strength - but their strategy left them with little room to manoeuvre offensively.
Without being able to pressure England, Tunisia opened themselves to relentless attacks from the Three Lions and had the Europeans' finishing been better, this contest would have been over early on.
Finally, as the contest wore into its latter stages, and with Tunisia largely avoiding the seemingly inevitably consequences of their set up, they really ought to have been the side - the best-placed African nation - to see out the contest.
Tunisia are, after all, long-time masters of time-wasting, of cynical slowing of contests and of game management. It's a reputation that's tarnished them - somewhat unduly - over the years, but if ever there was a time to lean back on those 'virtues' this was it.
Yet there was a certain naivety about Tunisia during the latter stages, both in the way substitute Ben Amor carelessly conceded a late corner, and the way in which that fateful set-piece was defended.
On another day, a grittier Tunisia team would have seen this contest out and been lauded for having taken Africa's first point at the tournament, albeit despite their own approach.
In reality, however, Tunisia, like Morocco, may well look back on a contest in which they didn't play to their strengths and ultimately paid the price.