The French tabloids are less rude than the English variety, so there were no "Good Riddance" headlines in yesterday's newspapers, just a few mild expressions of relief from radio anchors and a sentence in Le Monde noting that the departure of English supporters following their team's elimination from the World Cup would be a relief to French authorities.
France 98 has not been England's finest hour. Violence marred all four of England's World Cup matches, starting with the street battles in Marseille on June 14th.
Toulouse and Lens virtually shut down out of fear of the English fans, but a few incidents occurred there as well.
In SaintEtienne, where the last match was played on Tuesday, 10 English supporters appeared in court yesterday. One of them, Delroy Nelson (25), was charged with resisting arrest by attacking a policeman who checked his identity when he stepped off the train at SaintEtienne.
Nelson was jailed for three months. A computer engineer, he was one of four English fans given jail sentences by the court in SaintEtienne.
The French sports daily L'Equipe lamented that despite the presence of dozens of British policemen trained to identify trouble-makers in each of the four towns, "every time it's the same scenario - Englishmen drinking more beer than can be found in the local cafes and youths stirred up by the presence of cameramen."
Le Monde's correspondent, Philippe Broussard, wrote that "violence had become, in this highly publicised World Cup, a sort of soap opera, a travelling show played in town after town."
Small incidents were blown out of proportion by the presence of TV cameras, Mr Broussard said. When the first scuffles broke out between supporters and locals in SaintEtienne, there were more journalists than English fans present.
Each time the English team arrived, L'Equipe said, "they were preceded by their reputation. And they will leave this World Cup with it."
But a paradox underlies England's sullied honour: "Yes, each time the cities where they stopped shut down, but each time the stadiums where they played lived their finest hours."
Commentators were sorry to see 18-year-old Michael Owen leave the championship. Le Monde called Owen "Beautiful Loser" (in English) and compared him to Leonardo DiCaprio. Owen was the pride of his parents and trainers and had done everything to restore the image of England, "which we have a tendency to take for a factory of tattooed, alcoholic, dangerous hooligans".
That was the great mystery, Le Monde said - "how such a beautiful team and such faithful supporters could let the limelight be stolen by a few hundred idiots."
Meanwhile, Lille Hospital announced that Mr Daniel Nivel, the gendarme who was critically injured by German hooligans on June 21st, is improving. Although still in a coma, Mr Nivel has begun to respond to stimulation.
Two of his alleged attackers are in prison, under investigation for attempted murder.
With England eliminated from the World Cup, the anxiety of French authorities is now focused on German "hools". Germany's next match, against Croatia, will take place on July 4th in Lyon.