In a suite high above Soldier Field, Xherdan Shaqiri watched Saturday’s match with other teammates not on the gameday roster. 

Once again, the Fire seemed just fine in his absence. 

Playing without Shaqiri for the fourth straight game, the Fire beat Minnesota United 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 12,128. Kei Kamara scored twice in the first half, and the Fire handed Minnesota its first loss of the season. 

Minnesota scored on Kervin Arriaga’s 57th-minute free kick when Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady let the ball go through his hands. The Fire then survived a late Minnesota flurry to hold on.

During Shaqiri’s ailment, the Fire are unbeaten with two victories. They’ve scored at least two goals in three of those games as Brian Gutierrez has assumed Shaqiri’s spot in the middle of the Fire attack. The speedy midfield combination of Gutierrez, Chris Mueller and Maren Haile-Selassie has clicked, and the offense is playing with a noticeable flow. 

It’s unclear whether that would happen with Shaqiri. It’s also unclear when he’ll return to the lineup.

Shaqiri was listed as questionable with a nagging right upper leg issue, and on Wednesday coach Ezra Hendrickson said it was likely but not a sure thing the Fire’s highest-paid player would be available. It turned out Shaqiri - who was also listed as questionable before two other games he missed - wouldn’t be suiting up.

This early absence, combined with Shaqiri’s physical issues last year, could add to concerns about the attacker’s dependability. Yet if he is worried about the 31-year-old, Hendrickson wasn’t saying Wednesday.

“He’s not 22, so these things are going to happen,” Hendrickson said. “He’s shown that when properly fit he can really deliver and really make a difference for us. That’s our concern right now, that we make sure that we get him as close to 100 percent as possible so that he can do what we all know he’s capable of doing and what we’ve all seen him do last year. 

“We have been very, very cautious and very, very patient with that.”

When the Fire acquired him from French side Lyon in February of last year, one of the questions about the signing was Shaqiri’s durability. During his time in Europe, Shaqiri struggled with leg injuries, somewhat limiting his production.

Those problems have followed him to the Fire, who gave him $8,153,000 in guaranteed compensation last year. In 31 games since joining the Fire, Shaqiri has seven goals and 11 assists.

Hendrickson clearly misses him.

“We feel like when Shaq is on the pitch, we are a better team,” Hendrickson said. “So we want to get him back on the pitch but we want to make sure that it’s in the right timing and that, you know, we limit the chance of him re-injuring himself. Those type of injuries are tricky and we want to just make sure that it’s close to 100 percent as possible before we send him back out there.”

Perhaps the Fire shouldn’t rush him back.

NOTES: The Fire were also without midfielders Federico Navarro (left upper leg) and Jairo Torres (right upper leg). 

* Forward Georgios Koutsias made his Fire debut when he replaced Kamara in the 74th minute.