I agree with several aspects of the posts.
Sportsmanship is important. A Coach shouldn't go out of his way to embarass another team. Part of sportmanship is learning to lose and win with dignity.
When I hear that a team won 12-0 my first question is how many players scored? If 1 player scored 12 - poor sportsmanship was probably shown in that game. If 6 to 9 players scored I would think that the coach wasn't "running up" the score. Especially in U-12 and younger some of these games are the only times that some players score - they will remember the game for a lifetime.
I had a select team playing in a tournament just over their head a couple of years ago. We ran into a team that played one of the best youth games I ever saw. We were down 6-0 at halftime. I had every player on my team standing with me watching and commenting on the other teams excellent passing, support, switching fields, and general decision making. Many of these things we had worked on and they understood for the first time. In the 2nd half the other team commenced with playing "keep away". I considered it a victory when we applied enough pressure to "make them score" on us in order to keep possession.
Basically it can be a learning experience for a team - in Soccer as well as life you will run into teams and people who are going to "run up the score" - it's a good life lesson to learn with supportive coaches and parents.
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