Tunisia captain Wahbi Khazri and Fakhreddine Ben Youssef ensured their nation's World Cup slump wouldn't enter a fifth decade.
Khazri's hard, rising shot in the 66th minute lifted Tunisia to a 2-1 triumph over Panama on Thursday night. It came about 15 minutes after the Rennes striker's pinpoint pass produced Ben Youssef's equalizer on a redirection off of his right instep.
"We wanted to snatch the victory and I wanted to score and I did," Ben Youssef said.
Panama took its first ever lead in World Cup play in the 33rd minute through an own-goal when Jose luis Rodriguez's hard, left-footed shot deflected off of Tunisia's Yassine Meriah.
Both Group G teams were already eliminated going into the match. Tunisia hadn't won a World Cup game since a 3-1 victory over Mexico in 1978. The Carthage Eagles then failed to win any of their next 13 World Cup matches, a streak that ended in somewhat expected fashion.
Tunisia was missing several players because of injuries. They had to start 33-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi because its other keepers were injured.
"Thanks to our goalkeeper, we didn't concede many goals and we got the three points," Maaloul said.
The goal that gave Panama a 1-0 halftime lead was the 50th own-goal in all World Cups.
Meriah had turned his body to block Rodriguez's shot and ended up sending it inside the far post after Mathlouthi had already started moving the other way.