Distract team on course (9)
I believe the answer is:
sidetrack
'distract' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'team on course' is the wordplay.
'team' becomes 'side' (I've seen this before).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'course' becomes 'track' (track is a kind of course**).
'side'+'track'='SIDETRACK'
(Other definitions for sidetrack that I've seen before include "lead away" , "Bit of railway" , "Distract (from big issue)" , "Provide diversion" , "Divert" .)