INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Gregory Bull is based in San Diego and has worked for The Associated Press in Mexico, New York and California since 1996. He won a Pulitzer Prize as part of a team of AP photographers covering immigration in 2024. Bull also has covered eight Olympics.
Canada and South Africa were both playing cautiously in the first game of the knockout round. As the match unfolded on Sunday, it was looking like we would only have one or two moments that would define the game. The result would give one team a historic win, and the other team would be eliminated from the World Cup and packing their bags. As Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio approached the ball, it looked very much like this may be the moment of the match. It was also historic for Canada.
Canada's attack seemed to continually bog down just around the penalty arc, as South Africa’s defense would swarm. From my position in the corner, that means a lot of bodies in and around the ball. Tracking the ball and player through a maze of bodies means you need to think carefully on your focus strategy. I decided to shrink my focus point in my Sony a1m2 from a center focus point of “small,” to “extra small,” to more accurately pinpoint the focus on one player. On this play, as the ball came back to Eustaquio off a header from a South African defender, he was surrounded by five defenders and a teammate, all moving in front of him from my position. From his approach to the ball it was clear he was going to take a shot, but he passed behind a defender as he planted his foot to strike. With the smaller focus point, I just had to stay calm and anticipate where he would reappear, and had he cleared the defender. I finally had a clean shot. I am holding two cameras at this point, balancing my longer lens on a monopod with my arm and shoulder, and firing with my shorter lens, in this case a 50-150mm lens. The key is to hold all that and remain as still as possible, as the smaller focus point demands a steady hand.
As the game was winding down without a goal, it was clear that any goal at that point would likely be the game winner. This photo works as it defines the one single moment that sent Canada on in the World Cup, and South Africa home.
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Canada's Stephen Eustaquio scores his side's opening goal against South Africa during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Former NBA player Malik Beasley has been indicted in the government’s sprawling investigation of illicit gambling on basketball games, accused of tailoring his 2024 performance with the Milwaukee Bucks to reward bettors and chip away at his own financial problems, authorities said Monday.
Beasley has been out of the NBA since playing with the Detroit Pistons in 2024-25. Another former NBA player, Ed Davis, was also charged in the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court against six people.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said they “turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation.”
The schemes, he added, “erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.”
Nocella said hundreds of thousands of dollars were wagered through popular gambling sites. The indictment says Beasley had financial woes, including millions of dollars in gambling losses, and had relied on Davis, a former teammate, for help.
“Malik maintains his presumption of innocence throughout this two-year investigation,” Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, said. “We ask that people reserve judgment until all the facts are known.”
In return for fixing his performance, Beasley got paid by his money-winning co-conspirators and his debts to Davis were reduced or eliminated, the indictment alleges.
In one example, according to the court filing, Beasley informed Davis that he would try to outperform the 3.5 prop line bet for rebounds in Milwaukee's game against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, 2024.
With a second left, and the Bucks ahead by seven points, any shot by the Clippers would not have affected the outcome. But Beasley challenged the shot and then dashed past four players to grab the rebound as the horn sounded.
Beasley finished with four rebounds that night — an overperformance and a winning prop bet, the indictment states.
“What's funny is after he got it he had a big sigh of relief,” a co-conspirator said in a text message, according to the indictment.
In other games, Beasley told Davis that he would underperform certain statistics, the government alleges.
The NBA said it would continue to cooperate with authorities.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” spokesperson Mike Bass said.
Beasley last played in the NBA for the Pistons in 2025, averaging 16 points per game. He is one of five players in NBA history with more than 300 3-pointers in a season, but he did not play in the league last season because of the investigation.
Beasley's financial problems have been widely reported, including disputes with a Detroit landlord, a Milwaukee barber and a Minnesota dentist. In 2025, when the Pistons were in New York for a playoff game, he was served with a lawsuit from a local sports marketing agency, which subsequently got a $1 million default judgment against Beasley.
Davis' attorney did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. He was an NBA journeyman who was primarily a backup in a 12-year career that got him roughly $48 million in gross salary. Davis and Beasley were teammates in Minnesota in 2020-21.
Paolo Zamorano, a sports agent who formerly represented Davis, was also charged with placing bets based on Beasley's information. Defense attorney Ken Breen said Zamorano denies wrongdoing and “looks forward to his day in court.”
Authorities last fall announced a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and well-known basketball figures such as Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and coach of the Portland Trail Blazers at the time.
Billups is accused of conspiring to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. He has pleaded not guilty.
In April, former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, became the first person to plead guilty. He was accused of defrauding major sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel, and filching millions of dollars from unwitting poker players.
Jones was charged with selling or attempting to sell insider information to bettors based on his relationships in the NBA.
Terry Rozier is accused of conspiring with friends to help them win bets on his performance during a 2023 game when he played for the Charlotte Hornets. He, too, has pleaded not guilty. He was on the Miami Heat when he was charged in 2025.
In 2024, former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in a separate gambling case. Porter, who had gambling debts, said he took himself out of games early so co-conspirators could win bets on his performance.
Associated Press writers Tim Reynolds in Miami and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.
FILE - Minnesota Timberwolves center Ed Davis plays against the Denver Nuggets during an NBA basketball game, Jan. 3, 2021, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King, file)
FILE - Milwaukee Bucks' Malik Beasley dribbles during the first half of Game 4 of the first round NBA playoff basketball series against the Indiana Pacers, April 28, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, file)
