(Photo credit: The Story Mob)

Team Vitality and The MongolZ each advanced into the semifinals of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in Day 2 action on Thursday.

Team Vitality and The MongolZ will face off in a semifinal on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the championship match where the winning team will receive $500,000 and 1,000 Esports World Cup club points. The runner-up will get $230,000 and 750 EWC club points.

Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut of France led the way in Team Vitality's 2-0 win over TYLOO, racking up a team-high 44 kills with a plus-25 kills-deaths differential over a 13-4 win on Inferno and a 13-8 win on Nuke to complete the sweep. China's Dongkai 'Jee' Ji led TYLOO with 33 kills and was the only team member to finish with a positive K-D differential (plus-5).

In the other quarterfinal, The MongolZ needed all three matches of the best-of-three series to beat 3DMAX, winning the clinching match 13-8 on Nuke after taking the opener 13-9 on Ancient and then losing 13-9 on Inferno. Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold led the all-Mongolian team in kills (57) and K-D differential (plus-22) and was one of four members of The Mongolz who amassed exactly 17 kills in the clinching victory. Pierre 'Ex3rcice' Bulinge of France led 3DMAX with 50 kills.

The last two first-round matches of the 16-team, single-elimination tournament were also contested on Thursday. MOUZ rallied from dropping the first match to beat Virtus.pro 2-1 while Team Falcons swept G2 Esports 2-0.

Team Falcons was led by Bosnia and Herzogovina's Nikola 'NiKo' Kovac, who finished the sweep with 40 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential facing off against his former team. His cousin, Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovac of Bosnia and Herzogovina, led G2 Esports with 31 kills but all five players had negative K-D differentials.

After Virtus.pro convincingly won the first match 13-6 on Inferno, MOUZ bounced back with a commanding 13-4 win on Mirage and then won the match with a 13-10 triumph on Overpass. Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi of Israel led MOUZ with 51 kills, 26 of which came in the final map. Petr 'fame' Bolyshev of Russia led Virtus.pro with 44 kills and posted a plus-3 K-D differential.

The Friday schedule:

--Quarterfinal, MOUZ vs. Team Falcons

--Quarterfinal, Aurora Gaming vs. HEROIC

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with the final and the third-place match to be contested on Sunday.

Prize pool for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with money winnings and Esports World Cup club points

1. $500,000, 1,000 points

2. $230,000, 750 points

3. $130,000, 500 points

4. $70,000, 300 points

5-8. $40,000, 200 points -- TYLOO, 3DMAX, two teams TBD

9-16. $20,000, no points -- Team Liquid, Astralia, Natus Vincere, GamerLegion, FaZe Clan, Team Spirit, Virtus.pro, G2 Esports

--Field Level Media