Roger Lemerre finally got revenge for the most embarrassing day of his career on Saturday when he guided his Tunisia team to a 1-0 win over Senegal and into the semi-finals of the African Nations Cup.
It was the Lions of Terenga who defeated his world champions France 1-0 in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup with a victory which sent shockwaves throughout the sport.
But on Saturday, it was Lemerre who was left smiling as the host nation kicked off a night of celebrations after Jawhar Mnari scored the only goal of the game in the 65th minute in front of 60,000 people at the Rades Stadium.
In Wednesday's semi-final, they will take on either defending champions Cameroon or Nigeria.
Mali also booked their place in the last four with a dramatic injury-time 2-1 win over Guinea at Mensah and they will face either Morocco or Algeria for a place in next Saturday's final.
Mnari's winning goal for Tunisia midway through the second half was hotly-disputed and the fall-out typical of a bad-tempered clash.
Senegal, who were runners-up to Cameroon at the last tournament in 2002, have struggled since those heady days of the World Cup with the slump in form of golden boy El Hadji Diouf mirroring that of his team-mates.
The Liverpool player had another miserable night on Saturday and even had to be pulled away from arguing with the Tunisian bench in the dying moments.
The opening half produced few chances at a fog-enveloped Rades Stadium on a cold, windy evening on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital.
With 65 minutes gone the stalemate was broken with a downward header from midfielder Mnari beating goalkeeper Tony Sylva.
Furious Senegalese players and officials held up play for four minutes protesting the goal, but when play resumed the West Africans were rattled and never settled.
Earlier in the day, a terrible blunder by Guinea goalkeeper Kemoko Camara allowed Mali captain Mahamadou Diarra to score a dramatic injury-time winner to give his side a 2-1 win and a place in the semi-finals.
Camara fumbled Diarra's long distance drive and allowed the ball to slip beneath his body and into the net.
The win gives Mali, who had to fight back from a goal down, a semi-final place for the fourth time in four appearances and their second in succession.
Pascal Feindounou had given Guinea a 14th minute lead before Frederic Kanoute hit a first-half injury-time equaliser.
Mali coach Henri Stambouli was full of praise for Tottenham striker Kanoute who has now joined Cameroon's Patrick Mboma as joint top scorer at the tournament with four goals.
"Once again Kanoute found the goal just at the right time for us on the stroke of half-time and that gave us great confidence," said Stambouli.
"He made lots of good things happen for us. But it was a difficult game against a very strong Guinea team."
Guinea coach Michel Dussuyer was a devastated figure and so was his goalkeeper who sat slumped against the foot of his post as Mali players celebrated.
"I am very disappointed. We paid the price for missing so many chances," said Dussuyer.
"We knew at the start that Mali were a great team. They confirmed it today."