When Tahiti began their beach soccer adventure earlier this decade, they would never have imagined they'd make a World Cup final.

It was 2011 when Tahiti qualified for the World Cup in Ravenna, Italy. They didn't have lofty goals.

"For once, we beat the Solomon Islands, who had already played in three World Cups, so for us it was really huge," Tiki Toa defensive stalwart Heimanu Taiarui says.

Taiarui admits the team wasn't that good when they started. All they wanted was to win a game.

"Our first match was against Venezuela and we did just that, we won. But the second match, against Russia, we lost, and then we lost to Nigeria as well.

"It was a beautiful experience."

Tahitian goalkeeper Jonathan Torohia says the 2011 team was just a group of friends, pulled together by their coach.

"The coach was trying to start a team with just people we knew - a group of friends in the neighbourhood where we saw each other each weekend," Torohia says.

"Still today, our coach is a friend before anything else. We have that connection between us that means, today, we can say we're a big family.

"It's been almost the same team since 2011, with perhaps two or three new players. More than anything, we're brothers, a family, and I think that's what gives us our strength."

Tahiti's player/coach, Teva Zavaroni, says one of the keys to the team has always been family.

He's not just talking about how close the players are. During each and every training session, at Stade Willy Bambridge in Papeete, the players can glance to the sideline and see their families in support.

Their children dance across the sand, kicking footballs as the team runs through drills. Wives, girlfriends, brothers and sisters all park up on the outside of the caged sand pitch, sitting on foldable chairs as the sun slowly sets behind them.

These reunions aren't once-a-decade events, however. They happen every other day.

During one Thursday evening session, a young boy - no older than 10 - walks along the line of seated wives and girlfriends, kissing each on the cheek as he goes. He was a baby when he first attended a Tiki Toa practice session, and has clearly been trained well.

"From the start of this adventure, in 2011, we've always included our families," Zavaroni says.

"They're the first ones impacted when we're not at home, when we make sacrifices, when we go to training, when we go away on trips. So they make the most of the time when we're here.

"What's more, we're going away soon, so, the family base is very, very important for us."

Taiarui says it's the family backing, and the increasing support of the nation, which is propelling the team on.

"I think it's the most important thing in a team, to have your family support you and also that the players consider each other brothers.

From their humble beginnings in 2011, Tahiti then hosted the 2013 World Cup and became the first Oceania side to push beyond the group stage of a global FIFA tournament.

They went all the way to the semifinal, when a refereeing howler cost them probable victory against Russia. Instead, they struggled to compose themselves and were knocked out, having to settle for fourth.

That already broke huge ground for the tiny Pacific nation, but in 2015 they went one better, making the final of the World Cup in Portugal. Although they lost to the hosts in the final, Tahiti had proved in back-to-back tournaments that they were a serious contender when the world's finest met for their biennial showpiece.

"You could say we've got a bit of status now," Torohia says.

"A lot of Polynesian people watch us, including kids, so that's an image that we really need to keep.

"It's heart-warming to be able to represent all these people and to be able to play with our hearts for our family, and all the people who have followed us every year since 2013, 2015 in Portugal.

"So this year, they're looking forward to the World Cup again in the Bahamas and it's up to us now to bring back all those emotions for them - and why not come back with the title?"

In the beginning, Tahiti just wanted to compete.

Like Taiarui says, in 2011 they were happy to win one game. They succeeded, and the team couldn't have been happier.

But in the past six years, Tahiti has developed and positioned itself as one of the world's best as they look to the 2017 World Cup in the Bahamas.

Another strong showing would further their legacy in their home land, ploughing a path for young players to come through and eventually take on the world.

Because of their recent success, and the style with which they've done it, Tahiti isn't seen as small fry by their opposition anymore.

They've had to start thinking with a bigger mentality than that of the underdog.

"As a player, it's the biggest thing to play for your country," coach Zavaroni says.

"Because we're expected at the tournament now, it's not a given. We've got a bit of pressure on us. But you have to play in a relaxed way.

"You have to ask yourself more questions. So the first objective is to really get a good start in the competition so we can go as far as possible."

Tahiti take on Brazil, the world's finest beach soccer side, in their first match in the Caribbean. If England is the spiritual home of football, Brazil is the spiritual home of beach soccer.

At the 2016 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup in Dubai, Brazil thumped the Pacific minnows 10-4, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

Tahiti had barely trained prior to that tournament, and the players were anything but match fit.

Having blitzed the United Arab Emirates and Poland, Brazil was held to 4-4 by Tahiti late in the second third. For the first time, they had a real fight on their hands.

Fitness proved an issue for Tahiti, and they were thumped in the final third as Brazil slammed home a further six goals.

But what the game proved is that a full strength and fully fit Tahiti will provide any team in the world problems.

As such, they are one of the few teams that will have Brazil on edge when the World Cup comes around.

"We've never changed, we've always been like that. Our team has always stayed humble," Taiarui says of his team.

"We may be runners up in the World Cup but we don't flash that around. We stick to our foundations.

"We're still little, we're nothing, Tahiti is little. So to play against Brazil is already a big victory. Tahiti-Brazil, that doesn't happen every day."

It's not so much a rivalry that Tahiti have with Brazil. After all, they've only played them twice, losing both games.

There is a mutual respect, however, with the Brazilians extremely impressed with Tahiti's efforts in Dubai and prior.

"In 2013, to see posters saying Tahiti versus Brazil, it was like a dream," Zavaroni says.

"You could say it was them, really, who invented beach soccer - they're four-time world champions. It's an honour for us to play against them."

Zavaroni says the important thing for Tahiti is not to get overawed when playing sides like Brazil.

"You can't put pressure on yourselves. We have to play like we are used to playing, and above all we have to enjoy the game.

"The Brazilian team, it's the image they have. They're always smiling when they play. And we'd like to be a bit like them.

"Well, we have our style of play, we'll hold on to our style of play. But, we have lots of respect for these Brazilian players."

Beat Brazil in that first match of the 2017 World Cup, and Tahiti could be set on their way to something special.

They won't be getting ahead of themselves, but there is a belief within the Tiki Toa that they could stun the world in the Bahamas, and get Oceania off the mark in a FIFA tournament.

Wouldn't that be a story to tell the family.

Ben Strang travelled to Tahiti courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme and Air Tahiti Nui.