Leaves squad short (3)
I believe the answer is:
tea
'leaves' is the definition.
(as in tea leaves)
'squad short' is the wordplay.
'squad' becomes 'team' (synonyms).
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'team' with its final letter taken away is 'TEA'.
(Other definitions for tea that I've seen before include "Char" , "Infused beverage" , "Tisane" , "Lapsang souchong" , "Assam or Darjeeling, for example" .)