Nick has an ambition to succeed in soccer (5,1,4)

I believe the answer is:

score a goal

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'nick has an ambition to succeed in soccer' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'an ambition to succeed in soccer' is the wordplay.
'an' becomes 'a'.
'ambition' becomes 'goal' (I've seen this before).
'to succeed' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'in soccer' becomes 'score' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'a'+'goal'='agoal'
'agoal' put after 'score' is 'SCORE A GOAL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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