Footballers, those on the blue side hoping to defeat the Reds (5-7)

'footballers' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'those on the blue side hoping to defeat the reds' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'side' could be 'wing' (as in left and right wings) and 'wing' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?