Roma withstood a dramatic, late Tottenham comeback to send the Premier League team to their first defeat of this pre-season in a bad tempered affair which ended 3-2 in remarkable fashion.
Tackles were flying in all over the pitch and Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino was livid with match officials in the second half, although much of his anger would have been directed at his players who badly underperformed at Red Bull Arena.
The Italian team deserved the victory given to them thanks to a penalty on 12 minutes from Diego Perotti before Turkish midfielder Cengiz Under doubled the score with 21 minutes remaining.
Harry Winks reduced the arrears on 86 minutes when he prodded home from four yards and when Vincent Janssen scored in stoppage time, the Premier League team looked to have gained a draw that would have sent the International Champions Cup friendly to a penalty shoot-out.
Moments later, however, Marco Tumminello scored in dramatic fashion to sink the Londoners once and for all.
On the day that Daniel Levy, the Tottenham owner, stressed his lack of transfer activity this summer is irrelevant because of the club’s thriving youth academy, manager Mauricio Pochettino fielded a number of younger players.
Central defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, left back Kyle Walker-Peters and midfielder Josh Onomah all started for a Spurs team who arrived in New York with a spring in their step following Saturday night’s 4-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain in Orlando.
Roma, who lost their previous game to the French champions on penalties, fielded a near full strength side with former Manchester City player Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov both renewing acquaintances with the Premier League club.
And the Italians controversially took the lead on 12 minutes through a Perotti penalty.
Carter-Vickers was adjudged to have handled a Radja Nainggolan cross and although referee Hilario Grajeda was initially unsure, his assistant indicated the Spurs player did indeed handball in the area allowing Perotti to step up and steer past Michel Vorm.
The English side, cheered on by a strong contingent of supporters, failed to get into their stride and it wasn’t until the 24th minute that a chance finally fell their way.
