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Mexico fires Miguel Herrera, so that's a good thing for the USMNT, right?

Mexico fires Miguel Herrera, so that's a good thing for the USMNT, right?

And you thought the United States men's national team was in turmoil.

On Tuesday, the Mexico federation fired Miguel Herrera as national team head coach for Herrera's role in an alleged airport altercation with a TV commentator who had been highly critical of "El Piojo."

Now, just two days after beating Jamaica in the Gold Cup final, El Tri will have only two months and two September friendlies to find their bearings under a yet-to-be-named replacement before taking on the rival Americans in the Oct. 9 CONCACAF playoff that will determine the region's 2017 Confederations Cup representative.

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Clearly, the Mexico federation was looking for a reason to move on from Herrera. The coach had struggled all year to recapture the team's form at the 2014 World Cup, where it came a few minutes from an upset of the Netherlands in the round of 16, and led a stumbling El Tri into the Gold Cup with a seven-game winless streak.

After routing a shorthanded Cuba side 6-0 in the opener, Mexico quickly fell back into its misfiring ways without an injured Javier Hernandez but with plenty of firepower up front in Carlos Vela and Oribe Peralta. Controversial penalty decisions in the quarterfinals and semifinals had more to do with the Mexicans reaching Sunday's final than Herrera's coaching.

Change at the top is always challenging, especially when there's such little time to prepare for a crucial game that will define your year. So you would think Jurgen Klinsmann and the USMNT have caught an enormous break with Mexico's surprising firing of Herrera.

Not exactly.

Before dominating Jamaica to capture their seventh Gold Cup title, the Mexicans had looked just as listless and out of synch as the Americans. Now, they will gain the initial shot in the arm that comes with a new coach and new ideas. And they will get to benefit from that boost against a struggling U.S. side searching for answers under a coach in Klinsmann who creates new questions with the constant tinkering of his squad. A fourth-place finish at the Gold Cup has put him squarely on the hot seat, no matter what U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati says.

Mexico's coaching change doesn't tip the scale in the Americans' favor. Mexico gets to address the problems that has ailed its national team, while the U.S. will somehow have to regain the swagger that allowed it to beat the Netherlands and Germany in June friendlies. Neither situation is ideal. But both teams remain very much on equal footing with their respective troubles.

The big losers in the firing of Miguel Herrera? The fans and media. Simply because El Tri matches will no longer feature Herrera's passionate and sometimes psychotic sideline antics.

The winner should be Klinsmann and the USMNT. But that outcome will only happen if Klinsmann can get the Americans to regain their confidence in attack and learn from their costly defensive breakdowns in the Gold Cup. Right now, those are two very big ifs.