Parkhead darling

'McLarsson' is key to Swedish attack

Eight years later, and now with a shaved head, he's off to another World Cup finals having come close to his 2001 total as Europe's top league goalscorer with Celtic in Scotland.

"McLarsson," as he's sometimes called in Sweden, could be the key to another Swedish World Cup success in Japan, where England, Nigeria and Argentina are the first-round opponents in the toughest World Cup group.

With exceptional pace, wonderful dribbling skills and strength in the air, Larsson could be described as the complete forward, a man who creates goals as often as scoring them.

A perfect example came one September evening in Istanbul last year: With two minutes left, he tied the qualifier against Turkey with a header and then, just two minutes later, set up Andreas Andersson for the game-winner (2-1) with a cross that clinched Sweden's 10th World Cup berth.

"One goal, one pass -- the only things I did right," Larsson recalls.

He's a humble man, not only a stylish and attractive soccer player. He's thoughtful and intelligent. Wary of the attentions of the press, he always considers each question carefully before expressing an opinion.

But on the field, he shows a genuine enjoyment for the game and deserved his Golden Shoe award last season with 35 Scottish League goals.

As usual, he was humble when accepting the Golden Shoe trophy in Monaco before the start of this season.

"I've had plenty of luck and I've had so many good teammates," said Larsson, who joined previous Golden Shoe winners like Eusebio (Benfica), Gerd Mueller (Bayern Munich), Ian Rush (Liverpool), Marco van Basten (Ajax), Ronaldo (FC Barcelona) and Mario Jardel (FC Porto).

For the national team, Larsson was easily the most valuable player during Sweden's unbeaten qualifying campaign with eight goals in 10 matches -- including one four-goal game.

He scored the last goal -- the second on a penalty in a 3-0 win over soccer minnow Azerbaijan -- at Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm, where Sweden reached the World Cup final in 1958 only to lose 5-2 to Pele's Brazil.

The win against Azerbaijan gave Sweden -- a small Scandinavian country where some of its all-time greats grew up in an unfriendly soccer atmosphere near the Arctic Circle -- an unmatched unbeaten streak of 18 games in qualifiers for Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup finals.

Larsson was a big disappointment in soccer's last major team tournament as Sweden failed to win a match in Euro 2000. But he was game-rusty, having made his comeback for Celtic only three weeks before the opener after breaking his leg in October 1999.

With two years remaining in his contract with Celtic, which defended the Scottish title this season ahead of archrival Rangers, the 30-year-old Larsson plans to return to his native Helsingborg, on the southern tip of Sweden, in 2004.

He has invested plenty of his fortune -- his current contract is worth some US$3 million a year, the biggest in Celtic history -- in real estate in his hometown.