Esperance coach Mouine Shaabani has admitted his club has "many lessons to learn" after finishing fifth at the Club World Cup in the UAE.
Tunisia's African Champions beat north and central American champions Chivas Guadalajara of Mexico on penalties.
Esperance finished the game with nine men as it ended 1-1 after 90 minutes thanks to two penalties confirmed by VAR.
"We leave this tournament with many lessons to learn," Shaabani said.
The win on Tuesday followed a 3-0 loss to local champions Al Ain on Saturday.
"I was so hard on the players after the first game but I would like to thank them for their efforts today," he added.
"We again conceded a goal very early but we managed to return to the game and show a better face than what we showed against Al Ain."
The Esperance president Hamdy Meddeb agreed with his coach and gave him his backing for the future.
"We have to learn how to mentally prepare for such occasions, in our first defeat against Al Ain we were hit hard by the difficult beginning," he told BBC Sport.
"Mouine Shaabani will remain the coach of Esperance I believe he has the potential to become a great coach."
The Concacaf champions took the lead after just five minutes with Walter Sandoval scoring from the spot after VAR awarded a penalty when Sameh Derbali brought down Angel Zaldivar
Esperance were awarded a penalty of their own on 37 minutes when a VAR review confirmed the ball was handled by Josecarlos Van Rankin inside the area.
Mohammed Belaili stepped up to convert the spot-kick.
The Tunisian side played the final 11 minutes with ten players after Anice Badri was shown a second yellow card while Houcine Rebai was shown a straight red for a challenge on Isaac Brizuela deep into injury time.
In the penalty shoot-out that followed substitute goalkeeper Miguel Jimenez saved two penalties for the Mexican side but was unable to prevent Chamseddine Dhaouadi from netting the winner.