Commander leading a team reaching peak in S America (8)
I believe the answer is:
cotopaxi
'peak in s america' is the definition.
(volcano of the Andes)
'commander leading a team' is the wordplay.
'commander' becomes 'co'.
'leading' becomes 'top' (**).
'team' becomes 'xi' (eleven, a football team).
'co'+'top'+'a'+'xi'='COTOPAXI'
'reaching' is the link.
(Other definitions for cotopaxi that I've seen before include "mountain" , "Ecuadorian hothead" , "Andean peak" , "volcano in SA" .)