The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 2 plus 4 plus 4 letter word EGG ON ONES FACE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
E
G
G
O
N
O
N
E
S
F
A
C
E
More clues leading to the result EGG ON ONES FACE
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Misdirect a soldier and there could be this" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case misdirect a soldier and there could be this = egg on ones face.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.