Tunisia and Denmark played out a 0-0 draw at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.
The North African side played high intensity and physical football throughout the game, rarely letting their European opponents settle into any sort of rhythm.
Both sides had goals disallowed for offside in a game where defences came out on top.
Denmark suffered in the heat of Qatar, losing Thomas Delaney to injury before half time.
A late VAR check threatened to give Denmark a 94th minute penalty, with the eventual decision instead going the way of Tunisia.
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Story of the match
The big news from the Danish camp was Christian Eriksen's return to tournament football.
Denmark's star player collapsed in the first half of their Euro 2020 clash with Finland in Copenhagen, but has made a miraculous return to both Premier League and international football.
Tunisia matched Denmark as both sides lined up in a 3-5-2 formation.
The inclusion of Eriksen meant Denmark were slightly more offensive with their starting eleven, as Tunisia opted for a more pragmatic midfield three.
Tunisian midfielder Aissa Laidouni set the tempo for his side within the opening minute with a forceful challenge on Eriksen.
The Ferencvaros man looked to hype up the crowd after his challenge, setting the precedent for his side's high intensity play throughout the game.
The game's first real chance came 11 minutes in with Tunisian fullback Mohamed Drager unleashing a vicious effort from 25-yards.
His shot deflected off Andreas Christensen and flew just wide of Denmark's goal.
The North African side took control of the early stages but failed to create many clear cut chances.
Issam Jebali did put the ball in the net after 23 minutes, but his goal was ruled out for offside.
The striker held off the challenge of Simon Kjaer to seemingly break the deadlock before the linesman raised his flag.
Denmark's lacklustre first half was summed up by a hopeful effort from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
The midfielder's long range effort failed to seriously test Aymen Dahmen in the Tunisia goal.
The biggest chance of the half fell to Jebali just before the break.
The striker found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, forcing the Nice man to pull off a spectacular one-handed save.
A poor half for the European side got worse in first half stoppage time as Sevilla midfielder Delaney was forced off with what looked like a hamstring injury.
Delaney was replaced by Mikkel Damsgaard in an offensive switch by boss Kasper Hjulmand.
Tunisia started the second half on the front foot as Laidouni caught Denmark off guard.
The midfielder ran the length of the pitch before being thwarted by Christensen 18-yards from goal.
As the game went on, Denmark seemed to grow in both quality and confidence.
They had their own disallowed goal in the 55th minute after Damsgaard was caught offside, denying Andreas Skov Olsen a first World Cup goal.
Substitute Andreas Cornelius had a golden chance to open the scoring 20 minutes from time.
An Eriksen corner was put back across goal by Christensen, finding Cornelius unmarked at the far post.
One-yard out from goal, the striker's diving header was completely scuffed and rebounded off the post in what is already the miss of the tournament.
The latter stages of the game saw both sides pushing for the win without creating any significant chances.
The game seemed to be heading for a goalless draw before referee Cesar Ramos was sent to the VAR monitor to check for a potential Denmark penalty.
The Mexican official was asked to look at the ball striking the hand of Tunisia defender Yassine Meriah, but remarkably awarded the African side a 94th minute free kick for a push on substitute Hannibal Mejbri.
Tunisia will take confidence into their clash with Australia at 10am on Saturday, while Denmark face group favourites France at 4pm on the same day.
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Player of the match
In a game that lacked huge amounts of quality, Aissa Laidouni was the stand out man.
Tunisia's number 14 was at the heart of everything his side did, both with and without the ball.
His early challenge on Eriksen set the tempo for his side, as well as fierce efforts in the final third which tested Schmeichel.
The midfielder was substituted to a standing ovation in the 88th minute of the match.