SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A day after announcing his imminent departure from Tottenham after 10 years with the club, Son Heung-min was given an emotional farewell Sunday by his teammates, Newcastle players and almost 65,000 fans at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The pre-season friendly in South Korea between the Premier League teams ended 1-1, with the high point being Son’s second-half exit in likely his last game for Tottenham. The 33-year-old captain was surrounded by both sets of players before eventually sitting on the bench in tears.
“First we had the walk around and then the teammates gathered around and he was emotional,” Tottenham coach Thomas Frank said. “In the changing room it was more of the same. I just said a few things but not much because it’s about Sonny and then he said a few things. It was beautiful.”
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe also paid tribute to the South Korea forward.
“The reaction was instinctive from my players. I think that speaks volumes about him,” Howe said. “I think he’s seen as one of the game’s great Premier League players. It’s not just the talent he has but the way he has carried himself over the years.”
Son, who has been linked with a move to Los Angeles FC, scored 173 goals in 454 games for the London club but was unable to find the target in what Frank said is likely to be his last appearance.
His trademark “camera” goal celebration was, however, borrowed by Brennan Johnson who put Tottenham ahead after four minutes with a low shot from the edge of the area.
Harvey Barnes leveled for Newcastle seven minutes before the break, cutting in from the left to fire powerfully home.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, Tottenham’s James Maddison was stretchered off after going down injured.
“We’re pretty sure it was the same knee he injured before,” Frank said.
The midfielder is likely to miss the UEFA Super Cup between Europa League winner Tottenham against Champions League victor Paris Saint-Germain on Aug. 13. The Premier League season starts two days later.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, center, waves after the pre-season friendly match against Newcastle United at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min reacts after the pre-season friendly match against Newcastle United at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.
In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.
Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the courthouse before Thursday's hearing to support Smith. One woman, Fran Seager of Palmer, held a sign that said, “Support our Samoans. They are US nationals.”
Smith's husband, Michael Pese, thanked the American Samoa community in the Anchorage area. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be strong enough to face this head on,” he said.
State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.
“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said. “I do not think it is a good use of our limited state resources to go after these hardworking, taxpaying Alaskans who are not criminals.”
Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.
In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”
Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.
Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”
The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”
The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.
One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email last week that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
