Spain’s Olympic soccer players David De Gea (L) and Adrian Lopez attend a training session at the Soccer City area in Las Rozas, near Madrid on Monday. — Reuters photo

In an ominous sign for their rivals for an Olympic soccer medal, Spain’s coach Luis Milla says his team at the London Games will be a richly talented and well-drilled outfit with the same roots and playing style as the nation’s all-conquering senior side.
The Spanish have swept to back-to-back European titles with a first World Cup triumph in between by honing the style of fast-flowing, possession-based football known as ‘tiki-taka’ to something close to perfection.
Many of the young players who will feature for the Iberian nation at the London Games, where Spain will make their first appearance in the football competition in 12 years, are products of the same youth academies that spawned Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Iker Casillas and Fernando Torres.
In an interview with Reuters at the Olympic team’s training base outside Madrid on Monday, Milla said he was benefiting from the work done in youth schools from the richest La Liga clubs such as Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao down to those in lower leagues.
‘It’s our very good fortune that the clubs are doing fantastic work in their academies, from the most modest up to the first division,’ said Milla, a former Barca and Real Madrid midfielder who led a Spanish side featuring many of the Olympic squad to a European under-21 title last year.
‘We coaches have to adapt to the already established profile of the players and do things in a similar way to the senior side,’ added the 46-year-old.
‘That means understanding the dynamic of the game, trying to impose absolute domination, trying to dominate the ball.’
The Olympic squad includes three players - Juan Mata, Javi Martinez and Jordi Alba - who were part of Spain’s victorious Euro 2012 campaign in Poland and Ukraine, with Alba, who scored Spain’s second goal in a 4-0 thrashing of Italy in the final, a particular revelation.
The 23-year-old has just sealed a move to Barca from Valencia, while Mata, another former Valencia player, won the Champions League with Chelsea last season and Martinez was a losing finalist for Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League. ‘They are young but they have been through a lot with their clubs and the senior squad and will bring maturity, energy and experience,’ Milla said.
‘They have been exemplary because they have been able to join the under-21 team and help us become European champions. They are essentially a great example for the youngest players.’
The trio are the obvious leaders in a squad that also includes Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, Atletico Madrid striker Adrian Lopez and Bilbao pair Iker Muniain and Ander Herrera.
Malaga playmaker Isco provides creativity just behind the forward line and Barca winger Cristian Tello brings lightning pace down the left wing.
As well as De Gea and Mata, several other squad members play for clubs outside Spain, including Olympique Marseille defender Cesar Azpilicueta, Alvaro Dominguez, who recently signed for Borussia Moenchengladbach, and Benfica’s Rodrigo Moreno.
Milla said Spain was currently setting the European benchmark for both players and coaches, making non-Spanish clubs much more likely to turn up looking for recruits.
Young players were gaining valuable experience playing abroad that could only help the national sides, he added.
‘I believe it’s working well at the European level because of everything that (Spanish football) is contributing, teaching other countries how we are developing.
‘Clubs are focusing on both young players and coaches, it’s not just players, and that wasn’t happening as much before.
‘It’s a bonus for the young players who leave Spain. They take part in a different kind of competition, they learn a new language, new things that make them mature earlier.’
One surprising statistic about the Olympic squad is that there is not a single player from Real Madrid, something Milla said was partly due to the fact that younger players found it relatively difficult to break into the club’s first team.
Real’s B team, Castilla, won promotion to Spain’s second division last season, joining Barca’s B side, while first-team coach Jose Mourinho gives few opportunities to any youngsters coming through from the academy.
‘Most of the players here are playing in the first division, whereas the Madrid players were in the third tier,’ Milla said.
‘We felt that they lacked that experience of playing in the top flight.’
Sitting on the terrace of the lodge where the players stay during training camps, Milla picked out Brazil, Uruguay and hosts Britain as possible favourites for the medals in London, with Brazil possibly the standout side.
‘I am optimistic,’ he added. ‘We are very much going to focus on the tactics that helped us win the European (under-21) Championship last summer.
‘We have good players and we need to work like we did last year, when we were a compact and harmonious side.’
Spain won gold as hosts at the Barcelona Games in 1992, their only victory in the football competition in nine Olympic campaigns, although they did win silver in Sydney on their last appearance with a team featuring Xavi and Carles Puyol.
They have been drawn in Group D with Japan, Honduras and Morocco and play their opening game on July 26 in Glasgow against the Japanese.