There were plenty of skeptics who wondered whether 37-year-old Luis Suarez and his aching knees would be able to withstand a full Inter Miami season, but nobody is questioning the signing of the Uruguayan forward anymore after he contributed to three of Miami’s goals in a 4-1 road win against the Chicago Fire Saturday night.

A week after scoring two goals in the first six minutes against Cincinnati, Suarez scored two goals and set up a third against the Fire.

With the win, Inter Miami, which already had clinched a playoff spot, widened its lead in the Eastern Conference with 59 points and seven games remaining, eight points ahead of second-place Cincinnati.

“Luis was probably the best player on the field, but I don’t want to focus only on the goals because that is normal for him,” said Inter Miami coach Tata Martino. “I prefer to focus on his game as a whole, the ball circulation and all the passes to midfielders and because of that we can play in other parts of the field. He did that very well.”

Suarez got the game’s first scoring sequence started when he sent a diagonal pass to Diego Gomez, who centered it back to Suarez, and then the Uruguayan blasted a shot from the center of the box in the 25th minute. Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady made the save, but it rebounded off the chest of defender Tobias Salquist for an own goal.

Then, one minute into the second half, Suarez struck again, and this time, his shot found the back of the net. Once again, it came off an assist from Gomez, and then Suarez made the clinical finish with his left foot.

Suarez was not done yet. “El Pistolero” (The Gunslinger) made it 3-0 at the 65-minute mark on a goal that involved his former FC Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. Busquets took a free kick after Fede Redondo was fouled, it went to Alba, who effortlessly took the ball out of the air and crossed to the center of the box. Gomez led the ball run past to an awaiting Suarez, who tapped it in.

It was Suarez’s 16th goal in 20 MLS games and he has 20 across all competitions after scoring twice in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and twice in the Leagues Cup. He also has eight assists.

Giorgios Koutsias scored for the Fire in the 82nd minute.

Robert Taylor came in off the bench in the closing minutes and scored a fourth goal for Miami in added time on an assist by Leo Campana, who had a chance to score but unselfishly passed to Taylor in front of the net.

Lionel Messi resumed training with his teammates the past few weeks after a seven-game layoff due to an ankle injury but was not quite ready to play Saturday night against the Fire, so he stayed home and did not travel to the game.

“Leo has been training with the group for some time now, but we felt that for the time he could have given us in this game it was better to give him these next 15 days (during the FIFA break) and to see if we can have him available for our next game against Philadelphia (Sept. 14),” Martino said.

Despite the absence of its captain, Inter Miami fielded a strong starting lineup consisting of: Drake Callender, Busquets, Suarez, David Martinez, Ian Fray, Alba, Gomez, Julian Gressel, Yannick Bright, Redondo, and Marcelo Weigandt.

Fray started in place of Tomas Aviles, who was serving a red card suspension after getting two yellow cards in the previous game against FC Cincinnati. Gressel returned to the starting XI in place of Rojas, who suffered an ankle sprain during practice last week.

“Ian gives us many options,” Martino said of the young defender and Coconut Creek native. “He can play center back when we play a three or five man bacl line, he can play right back when we play with four. He has a huge future. Unfortunately, the injuries had set him back but he feels good now and was able to finish the match Saturday.”

Martino went on to praise the team’s other young players, such as Bright, Benjamin Cremaschi, who came off the bench to replace Gressel in the 73rd minute and David Ruiz, who replaced Redondo. Leo Campana came in the 80th minute to replace Suarez.

“We played the final 10 or 12 minutes with a midfield that had an average age of 20 or 21, and I think that is very important,” Martino said.

Saturday’s game was the second time Miami and Chicago played this season. Miami won 2-1 at home on July 20. Rojas and Alba scored in that game.

Messi has missed 19 of 34 games this season due to injury and national team duty. He has missed the past seven games since injuring ligaments in his right ankle on July 14 while playing for Argentina in the Copa America final against Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium.

Last season, a sellout crowd of 61,000 at Soldier Field was disappointed that Messi, who was injured at the time, did not make the trip for the Inter Miami road game against the Chicago Fire.

This year, the Fire was prepared for the possibility of another Messi no-show.

The 50,000 fans who bought tickets were told that if Messi didn’t play, they would receive one of three perks: credit toward season-ticket membership, complimentary tickets to the Fire’s fan appreciation match in October, or single-match tickets to next year’s matchup against Inter Miami.

MLS takes a two week break during the FIFA window and Miami plays next at home on Sept. 14 against the Philadelphia Union.