As far as I see it, the Gold Cup was Beenie's first true tournament to really evaluate the talent, skill level, and mindset of the players that were available. The tournament, although we were there to win it, served as a good barometer of where we were at that time.
What we also need to remember, is that to a lesser extent in the end we realized that our group in the Gold Cup was trully the group of death. Hondurus threatened to make the finals, and lowly Panama, played like giants, and actually made the finals...and threatened to beat the US until the very end.
And lastly, under Don Leo, where we were in some tournament in June of 2005, would be nothing compared where we would be in a tournament in June 2006 --- we will improve, because we have nowhere else to go but up.
And that's my 2 cents.