Needing a win and some luck to progress and with his team down 3-2 to Switzerland, Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic went down in the penalty box in a desperate attempt to secure a penalty.

The dive was late, and fooled no-one. And the commentators were not impressed.

“I think my initial reaction there was he would have been better to stay on his feet because he’d done really well to get the ball in behind the defender,” Lucy Ward said on SBS.

“It is a great little knock over the top, got a chest on it. Had a chance to go for goal … but he went down like he had been shot. 

“That was a bit embarrassing.”

The Serbian bench weren’t happy. They begged the referee to take another look at the incident but he refused. 

Serbian players then spilled out onto the field, and substitute goal keeper Predrag Rajkovic was given a yellow card.

He now has the distinction of being booked at a tournament he hasn’t even technically played in.

Switzerland eventually advanced to the World Cup round of 16 for the third tournament in a row.

Remo Freuler scored the winning goal just after halftime as the Swiss secured second place in Group G. They will face Portugal in the first round of the knockout stage.

Freuler finished off a backheel pass from Ruben Vargas after Xherdan Shaqiri clipped a ball into the penalty box.

Shaqiri put Switzerland ahead early in the first half before Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic responded for Serbia. Breel Embolo equalised just before halftime.

Switzerland needed a win to guarantee itself a place in the knockout round after beating Cameroon and losing to Brazil in its opening two games.

Against Portugal, the Swiss will be looking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since hosting the competition in 1954.

Switzerland and Serbia met in the group stage for the second straight World Cup. The Swiss also won in 2018 after a last-minute goal from Shaqiri.

This time, the Chicago Fire forward put his team ahead in the 20th minute to become the first Swiss player to score at three World Cups.

Born in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Shaqiri ran straight to the opposing fans to celebrate, putting his finger to his lips after being taunted by that section of the crowd.

But Serbia supporters soon had something to celebrate with Mitrovic beating Manuel Akanji to head in a 26th-minute equaliser. Vlahovic turned in the box and sent a low shot into the net to put Serbia in front in the 35th.

Embolo evened the score again when he turned in Silvan Widmer’s cross just before the break.

By the time the clock ticked to 45 minutes, Serbia coach Dragan Stojković slouched in the dugout, his face pale and glistening with sweat.

It only got worse at the beginning of the second half.